Jump to content

Qubo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 131.239.63.3 (talk) at 17:16, 16 June 2013 (qubo shows for kids). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the television network. For the cargo vehicle, see Fiat Fiorino.
"QUBO" redirects here. For the computing technique, see Quadratic unconstrained binary optimization.
Qubo
CountryUnited States
NetworkIon Television
HeadquartersWest Palm Beach, Florida
Ownership
OwnerQUBO Venture, LLC.
Ion Media Networks
Nelvana
Scholastic Corporation
Classic Media

Qubo (/ˈk[invalid input: 'ju:']boʊ/ KEW-boh) is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between Ion Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media. The endeavor operates multiple services under the Qubo branding, including programming blocks in English content. The first of these, the Saturday morning blocks, made its debut on September 9, 2006 and the NBC programming block ended on June 30, 2012. The Telemundo block later shut down on July 1, 2012, upon the launch of NBC Kids.

History

On May 8, 2006, Ion Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) announced plans to launch new children's entertainment endeavor spread across all media platforms, including video-on-demand on digital cable and an interactive webpage. Originally announced under the name "Smart Place for Kids", the official name "Qubo" was announced in August 2006.[1] The name "Qubo" was chosen for the platform due to its "fun" sound and marketability in both English and Spanish.[2] Each owner contributed shows to the network.

The primary goal for Qubo is to "provide quality, entertaining children's programming in a safe environment." The endeavor utilizes Ion's digital broadcast outlets, the educational, literary, and creative assets of Scholastic, the acquisition duties of Classic Media, and the combined content libraries and production facilities of Nelvana, and NBC Universal, which will also dedicate its weekend morning lineups to Qubo. Qubo's Saturday morning block made its debut on NBC and Telemundo on Saturday, September 9, 2006 and replaced the Discovery Kids block on NBC and ended on Saturday, June 30, 2012. This was followed by the Qubo block repeating on Ion Television, which began on Friday, September 15, 2006. This was followed by the launch of a digital television network on January 8, 2007 on the digital subchannels of Ion Television affiliates.[3]

Initially, religious content was edited out of the original VeggieTales broadcasts by request of NBC's standards and practices department.[4] The removal drew criticism from the conservative watch group Parents Television Council, which complained to NBC.[5] NBC replied that the editing conformed to the television network's broadcast standards of "not to advocate any one religious point of view." VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer also expressed discontent with the edits, stating that he was not informed that religious content would be removed from the series, and he would have refused to sign a contract if he had known of this beforehand. Vischer said, "I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money."[6] Still, Vischer added that he understood NBC's wish to remain religiously neutral, and said, "VeggieTales is religious, NBC is not. I want to focus people more on 'Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television?'"[7]

On March 28, 2012, it was announced that NBC will launch a new Saturday morning pre-school block, called NBC Kids, that will replace the Qubo on NBC block. That block will be programmed by the consortium which owns the PBS Kids Sprout cable channel, of which NBC holds a stake via their new parent company Comcast. Despite this, the Qubo on Ion block will not be affected.[8][9][10][11]

Due to Ion's extension of regular programming, Ion airs the block in one hour sections, Wednesdays-Fridays at 11:00AM-12PM Eastern/10:00-11:00AM Central.

Qubo channel

A 24-hour stand alone digital broadcast television network, carried via the -DT2 digital subchannel of Ion's affiliates, began broadcasting on January 8, 2007.[3] Qubo’s digital channel initially launched with a rolling four-hour block of children’s programming. Almost all of the programming also comes with an alternate Spanish language soundtrack via the SAP channel, and Spanish closed captioning via CC3.

On December 3, 2007, Qubo expanded its offerings on the digital channel to include shows from other producers, as well as some programming currently seen on the main Qubo block on ION and NBC. In addition, the block was expanded to a 6-hour block, seen four times each day.[12]

In January 2008, Ion Media Networks and Comcast reached an agreement to continue carrying Ion's digital channels: Ion Television, Qubo and Ion Life.[13][14] ION is currently seeking the inquiry of the Federal Communications Commission for must-carry cable and satellite carriage of Qubo.[15]

The same date Qubo's Night Owl was released, the network began officially advertising itself as "Qubo Channel" (which the NBC and Ion Television blocks already referred to the channel as in promos for the channel's programming on those networks' Qubo-branded blocks) instead of simply "Qubo" in order to differentiate the channel from the Qubo-branded blocks on NBC, Telemundo and Ion Television.

Due to their extension of regular programming, Ion currently airs the primary Qubo block in one hour sections, every Wednesday-Friday at 11:00AM ET.

While there is no Qubo channel available on either Dish Network or DirecTV, Ion's western feed on those services airs a Qubo block from 6:00AM ET to 4:00PM ET every day.

Night Owl

On September 28, 2010, Qubo Channel launched a late night programing block aimed at older audiences entitled "Qubo's Night Owl", the block airing nightly from 12:00 Midnight ET–6:00AM ET, features animated series primarily from the Filmation animation library such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, braveStarr, and Ghostbusters.

Qubo programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Qubo

Upcoming programming

  • Dragon Tales (Sesame Workshop/Columbia Tristar Television; premieres date August 5, 2013)
  • Pocoyo (Granada International/Zinka Entertainment/CITV/KI.KA; premieres date August 5, 2013)
  • Birdz (Nelvana/CBS/Teletoon; premieres date August 10, 2013)
  • Doodlez (Cellar Door/Teletoon; premieres date August 10, 2013)
  • Garfield and Friends (Film Roman; premieres date August 5, 2013)

References

  1. ^ "Qubo to launch on NBC, Telemundo and the i Network this September".
  2. ^ "Qubo's Rodriguez: Offering a 'Building Block' to Kids". Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  3. ^ a b "qubo 24/7".
  4. ^ Westbury, Joe, NBC chooses family values over spiritual values in VeggieTales Saturday morning line-up, The Christian Index, September 26, 2008
  5. ^ Cohen, Sandy Talking Veggies Stir Controversy at NBC, Associated Press, Foxnews.com, September 22, 2006
  6. ^ (Cohen 2006)
  7. ^ Parker, Jenni, PTC Applauds NBC's Airing of VeggieTales, Religious Content Intact, Agape Press, December 6, 2006
  8. ^ "NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, a New Saturday Morning Preschool Block Programmed by Sprout®, Saturday, July 7". MarketWatch. March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  9. ^ Weisman, Jon (March 28, 2012). "NBC to launch Saturday kids block". Variety. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  10. ^ Rubino, Lindsay (March 28, 2012). "NBC, With Assist From Sprout, to Launch Saturday Morning Preschool Block". MultiChannel. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  11. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 28, 2012). "NBC Launches Preschool Saturday Block Programmed By Sprout". DeadLine. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  12. ^ "qubo Launches as 24-Hour Digital Broadcast Channel on ION Media Networks Station Group".
  13. ^ ION Media Networks and Comcast Announce Affiliation Agreement for Channel Suite, Yahoo!, January 14, 2008
  14. ^ ION Media Plugs In New Comcast Accord, Multichannel News, January 14, 2008
  15. ^ Ion Uses FCC Inquiry on Content Control to Push for Qubo Carriage, MultiChannel News, May 19, 2009
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qubo&oldid=560176987"