Launched September 3, 2001 Country Canada Sister channel(s) YTV
Treehouse TV Founded 2001 Parent organization Discovery Communications | Closed November 1, 2009 Broadcast area National Headquarters Toronto, Canada Replaced by Nickelodeon | |
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Owned by Corus Entertainment (80% & managing partner)
Discovery Communications (20%) | ||
Discovery Kids is a former Canadian English language category 2 digital cable specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment and Discovery Communications.
Discovery Kids was dedicated to informative and entertaining programming for children with an emphasis on real-life adventures, nature, technology, science and wildlife from all over the world.
History
In December 2000, Corus Entertainment, on behalf of an organization to be incorporated, was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch Discovery Kids, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service that offers children of all ages a fun, entertaining way to satisfy their natural curiosity with stimulating, imaginative programming that asks the questions of how? and why? and awakens the power of the mind."
The channel was launched on September 3, 2001, with the Earth Science for Children episode "All About Fossils" as the first program to air on the channel. Discovery Communications purchased a minority stake in the service either prior to or shortly after the channel's launch.
In September 2009, Corus confirmed it would shut down Discovery Kids. The channel was replaced on most service providers on November 2 with Nickelodeon Canada, which however, operates under a licence originally intended for a "YTV OneWorld" network. Because it operates under a separate licence, cable and satellite companies that carried Discovery Kids would not automatically receive the new channel unless they negotiated for carriage.