Discovery Kids (British and Irish TV channel)

Discovery Kids was a British and Irish pay television channel targeted towards a child audience. Initially launched in February 2000 exclusively on ONdigital (later ITV Digital) alongside its timesharing service Discovery Wings, it was soon expanded to other platforms such as Sky Digital and Virgin Media. The channel was closed with Discovery Kids on 28 February 2007 to make way for Discovery Turbo, which took over both the daytime and evening slots.

Discovery Kids

Broadcast area	UK, Ireland
Ownership
Owner	Discovery Networks UK (Discovery Communications)
History
Launched	1 February 2000
Replaced	Carlton Kids
Closed	28 February 2007[citation needed]
Replaced by	Discovery Turbo

History

On 22 December 1999, it was announced that two new Discovery networks - Discovery Kids and Discovery Wings, would launch exclusively on ONdigital on 1 February 2000. Both channels would replace and take over the timesharing space occupied by Carlton Kids and Carlton World.^[1]

On 12 October 2001, it was announced that the main Discovery Channel would launch on ITV Digital on 17 October, with Discovery announcing that it would fully replace both Kids and Wings on 18 November.^[2]

Discovery Kids and Discovery Wings were both closed down at midnight on 28 February 2007, to be replaced by Discovery Turbo the following day.^[3] Discovery Kids was replaced with an online broadband video service called Discovery Kids On Demand, not updated since the closure of the TV channel. Some of Discovery Kids' previous programmes like The Save-Ums!, Timeblazers and Mystery Hunters were later shown on DMAX during the mornings. It was owned by Discovery UK.

References

1. "Discovery channels boost ONdigital". The Independent. 22 December 1999. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
2. "Discovery launch confirmed for ITV Digital". Digital Spy. 12 October 2001.
3. "Discovery Goes Into Turbo Mode!". MediaWeek. 7 October 2008.