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Sprout marks 2nd year in 35m homes
It's just two years old and PBS Kids Sprout, the 24/7 pre-schoolers' network spawned by PBS, Comcast, Sesame Workshop and HIT Entertainment, may be one of fastest growing cable networks in history. PBS Kids Sprout, targeted at kids 2 to 5 years old, is designed to work on three platforms that support and supplement each other: the linear channel carried on digital cable tiers; a video-on-demand (VOD) service; and a robust--and recently relaunched--Website at www.sproutonline.com .
The partners first launched PBS Kids Sprout' VOD offering in April 2005. Video-on-demand is a perfect service for this young audience because they love to watch their favorite shows-- Barney , Angelina Ballerina and Bob the Builder , among others--many times in a row.
In the past two years, the service has served up some 280 million videos, according to VOD tracking service Rentrak Corp. Sprout President Sandy Wax thinks that number may be even higher. "When kids want to see Thomas the Tank Engine , they want to see him over and over again," says Wax. "With Comcast, if a child watches a show 10 times in a 24-hour period, that only counts as once. But pre-schoolers love repetition. They get a sense of mastery when they know something is going to happen."
In September 2005, Sprout launched as a digital linear channel, now in 35 million homes. "Distribution is the key to any cable business. If Sprout isn't the fastest-growing channel in cable history, it's among the top five," says Comcast Programming President Jeff Shell.
The linear channel closely...