James Harvey
11-08-2001, 11:43 AM
<img src="http://news.toonzone.net/images/foxkidslogo.jpg" align="right" vspace=3 hspace=3> Kids'WB!'s main competition has taken a massive hit today as Fox Kids announced it will suspend all weekday programming as of December 31st. <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com">Hollywood Reporter</a> ran this article on their website:
Fox affiliates' prayers have been answered. Fox Broadcasting Co. has decided to drop the two-hour Fox Kids weekday afternoon block, while the four-hour kids block on Saturday will remain intact. Fox has told its affiliates that as of Dec. 31, they will have free reign to program the 2-4 p.m. block that had been home to weekday Fox Kids programming.
Fox maintains the right to reclaim the two-hour block for network programming, but it has to give the affiliates six months' advance notice.
"The current advertising market is one of the most challenging our affiliates have ever faced, and the weekday kids programming block has been hit particularly hard the past few years," Fox president of network distribution Robert Quicksilver said. "By taking this interim step and furnishing our affiliate body with a two-hour block for them to program as they see fit, Fox is providing its affiliate partners a great opportunity to generate additional revenues."
Major opportunities will clearly abound for syndicators with the demise of the Fox Kids weekday block. But most executives said the sudden wealth of available time periods in the afternoon will not create the kind of gold rush it might have produced three years ago.
Stay tuned for more updates on this story, and many more, at TZN.
Fox affiliates' prayers have been answered. Fox Broadcasting Co. has decided to drop the two-hour Fox Kids weekday afternoon block, while the four-hour kids block on Saturday will remain intact. Fox has told its affiliates that as of Dec. 31, they will have free reign to program the 2-4 p.m. block that had been home to weekday Fox Kids programming.
Fox maintains the right to reclaim the two-hour block for network programming, but it has to give the affiliates six months' advance notice.
"The current advertising market is one of the most challenging our affiliates have ever faced, and the weekday kids programming block has been hit particularly hard the past few years," Fox president of network distribution Robert Quicksilver said. "By taking this interim step and furnishing our affiliate body with a two-hour block for them to program as they see fit, Fox is providing its affiliate partners a great opportunity to generate additional revenues."
Major opportunities will clearly abound for syndicators with the demise of the Fox Kids weekday block. But most executives said the sudden wealth of available time periods in the afternoon will not create the kind of gold rush it might have produced three years ago.
Stay tuned for more updates on this story, and many more, at TZN.