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Discovery-Hasbro Channel to Kick Off With Oct. 10 Preview
MARGARET LOESCH AND other executives spent seven hours engaged in "a dress rehearsal" last week, watching what will amount to the first two days of programming on The Hub, the joint venture kids' network from Discovery and Hasbro.
"We liked about 99% of what we saw," Loesch, the venture's CEO and a veteran programmer, said. "We identified a few glitches, but we have time to change."
Actually, there isn't all that much time. Announced in April 2009, The Hub, relaunching on the backbone of Discovery Kids, will begin reaching 60 million homes on Oct. 10. It will start with a preview, before settling into regular schedule the next day.
Hasbro, the No. 2 toy maker, paid $300 million for a 50% stake in the joint venture. Hasbro studios will be a significant supplier.
MIX OF SERIES
The Hub's lineup, a quarter of it centering around Hasbro toys, games and characters (Transformers Prime, My Little Pony, G.I. Joe), will also showcase a number of original series (R.L> Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series), remakes of older shows (Strawberry Shortcake), U.S. premieres (Twisted Whiskers) and vintage series (Fraggle Rock, Ihre Wonder Years), as well as movies.
The Hub will vie for eyeballs and ad dollars against Viacom's kids kingpin, Nickelodeon, which controls upward of 50% of category ad impressions; Turner's Cartoon Network; and the highly watched but commercial-free Disney Channel and its boysfocused sibling, Disney XD.
Discovery...