4Kids TV

"FoxBox" redirects here. For Fox Sports' digital on-screen graphic, see FoxBox (sports).

4Kids TV

Type	Online network (2008–2012) Saturday morning cartoon block (2002–2008) On-demand channel (2008–2012)
Country	United States
Availability	National International
Owner	4Kids Entertainment/Viacom (television)/BET Networks
Key people	Alfred R. Kahn Sumner Redstone
Launch date	September 14, 2002 (television)
Dissolved	December 27, 2008 (television)
Former names	FoxBox (2002–2005)
Former affiliations	UPN (2002-2006) The CW (2006-2008)

4Kids TV (often stylized as "4K!DS TV" and formerly known as FoxBox) is the name for a former Internet-based video on demand children's network and Saturday morning television programming block on the UPN. The block was part of the UPN network schedule, though it was syndicated to other broadcast stations in certain markets. 4Kids TV was the result of a four-year agreement reached in January 2002 between 4Kids Entertainment and Viacom to lease the network's Saturday morning programs.

History

File:Fox Box Logo (2002-2004).JPG

FoxBox logo used from September 14, 2002 to February 12, 2005.

File:250px-4Kids TV logo.png

4Kids TV logo used from February 19, 2005 to September 1, 2007.

The block launched under the name "FoxBox" on September 14, 2002 as a joint venture between the Viacom and 4Kids Entertainment, replacing UPN Kids Saturday Morning Block, which was dissolved following the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide by The Walt Disney Company. It was rebranded as 4Kids TV on February 19, 2005. 4Kids Entertainment was wholly responsible for the content of the block and collected all advertising revenues from it. However, UPN's standards and practices department still handled content approval and editing of series to meet broadcast standards.

The programming block aired on Saturday mornings in most areas of the United States, though some stations carried it on Sundays. 4Kids actually ran two competing Saturday morning lineups in later years; on May 24, 2008, 4Kids Entertainment replaced the Kids' WB programming block aired on The CW Television Network on Saturday mornings with a new block called The CW4Kids.

It was announced in November 2008 that 4Kids TV would conclude at the end of the year due to intervening conflicts between Viacom and 4Kids, as 4Kids had not paid the network for the time lease for some time, while the network was unable to maintain the guaranteed 90% clearance for the block due to affiliate refusals and an inability to secure secondary affiliates to carry the programming. The block ended on December 27, 2008. Fox announced that the time period would no longer be used for children's programming, owing that it was no longer viable due to the insurmountable competition from children's cable channels (such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network). On January 3, 2009, the network gave two hours of programming back to its affiliates, while the other two hours were used for an informercial block titled Weekend Marketplace. The 4KidsTV logo now only exists as the closing logo for 4Kids Entertainment for 4Kids shows that run outside of the Toonzai block outside of the United States (particularly those made before the 2012 auction of most of 4Kids' assets to Saban Brands).

Programming

Former programming

• The Adrenaline Project (September 29, 2007–April 5, 2008)
• Alien Racers (2005)
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series (March 9–August 30, 2003; reruns from CBS Kids)
• Biker Mice from Mars (August 9–December 27, 2008)
• Bratz (August 20, 2005–April 7, 2007)
• Chaotic (October 7, 2006–June 14, 2008)
• Chaotic: M'arrillian Invasion (September 13–December 27, 2008)
• The Cramp Twins (February 8, 2003–August 19, 2006)
• Cubix: Robots for Everyone (August 30, 2003–June 26, 2004)
• Cabbage Patch Kids (TV Series) (2004) (One episode aired as part of a promotion.)
• Di-Gata Defenders (July 28, 2007–December 27, 2008)
• Dinosaur King (September 8, 2007–September 6, 2008)
• F-Zero GP Legend (September 4, 2004–March 5, 2005)
• Fighting Foodons (September 14, 2002–August 30, 2003)
• Funky Cops (August 23, 2003–January 23, 2008; ended in 2004 on television)
• G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 (August 27, 2005–December 30, 2006)
• Incredible Crash Dummies (shorts; 2004–2005)
• Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (September 14, 2002–December 9, 2006; June 21–December 27, 2008)
• Magical DoReMi (August 13, 2005–May 2, 2008; ended in 2006 on television)
• Mew Mew Power (February 19, 2005–July 22, 2006)
• One Piece (September 18, 2004–November 12, 2005)
• Pirate Islands (2003)
• Shaman King (August 30, 2003–September 3, 2005)
• Sonic X (August 23, 2003–May 6, 2006; May 5, 2007–December 27, 2008; now on Vortexx)
• Stargate Infinity (September 14, 2002–March 15, 2003)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (February 8, 2003–April 15, 2006)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward (July 29, 2006–December 27, 2008)
• Ultraman Tiga (September 14, 2002–March 1, 2003)
• Ultimate Muscle (September 14, 2002–May 22, 2004; June 10–August 19, 2006)
• Viva Piñata (August 26, 2006–August 2, 2008)
• Winx Club (May 22, 2004–December 27, 2008; now on Nickelodeon)
• WMAC Masters (2003; reruns from syndication)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters (September 9–November 25, 2006)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! (September 2, 2006–August 25, 2007; now on Vortexx and Nicktoons)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (September 1, 2007–June 14, 2008)

4KidsTV.com

Online network

4Kids launched an online video player on its website on September 8, 2007, and added full episodes, and more videos and content since then. However, it was revamped on September 25, 2008, though in beta testing. Promotions stated that 4Kids TV would be "moving online" starting in January 2009, implying that the video player would be fully operational then, but it remained in beta testing. However, 4Kids seemed to increase the rate that shows were added to the player at that point. On September 9, 2009, the beta symbol was removed, and the player was revamped again. On November 2, 2012, the online network closed down.

Relationship with UPN and broadcast ambiguities

The block had a somewhat unusual relationship to the UPN network. The programming was produced for Viacom and offered to UPN affiliates first, so the UPN station in any given area had right of first refusal. In the event that a UPN affiliate or in some cases, an owned-and-operated station of the network, opted not to carry 4Kids TV, the block then became available for the local broadcast rights to be acquired by another television station. In fact, it was due in part to this relationship that 4Kids dissolved the block in 2008, as they had been promised clearance on at least 90% of Fox affiliates.

Some 4Kids TV programming met the criteria to be considered educational and information; and counted toward the three hour per week mandatory educational children's programming quotas defined by the Federal Communications Commission, such as Winx Club, The Adrenaline Project, Magical DoReMi, Stargate Infinity, reruns of Back to the Future: the Animated Series and Cubix (why this clause was not realized and these shows not aired together at any one time is unknown).

Markets where 4Kids TV did not run at all

City of license/market	Fox affiliate	Notes
Birmingham, Alabama	WBRC
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/ High Point, North Carolina	WGHP
Greenwood, Mississippi	WABG-DT2	Subchannel did not start broadcasting until 4 p.m. on Saturdays, or earlier if there are sports scheduled.

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on a MyNetworkTV affiliate

City of license/market	Fox station	MyNetworkTV station carrying block	Notes
Chicago, Illinois	WFLD	WPWR-TV	Duopoly owned by Fox Television Stations; WPWR was a UPN affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas	KDFW	KDFI	Duopoly owned by Fox Television Stations; KDFI was an independent station at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Detroit, Michigan	WJBK	WMYD	WMYD aired 4Kids TV on Sundays; that station was a WB (as WDWB) affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Miami, Florida	WSVN	WBFS-TV	WBFS was a UPN affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota	KMSP-TV	WFTC	Duopoly owned by Fox Television Stations; WFTC was a former UPN affiliate that became a MyNetworkTV affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Portland, Oregon	KPTV	KPDX	Duopoly owned by Meredith Corporation; KPDX was a UPN affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
San Antonio, Texas	KABB	KMYS	Duopoly owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group (KMYS has since been sold to Deerfield Media); KMYS was a former WB affiliate (as KRRT) at the time it took 4KidsTV from KABB, station has since switched to The CW
Tucson, Arizona	KMSB-TV	KTTU	Duopoly owned by Belo; KTTU was a UPN affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on a CW affiliate

Note: These CW affiliates ran 4Kids TV on Sundays, due to their obligation to carry the The CW4Kids Saturday block or, as in the case of Atlanta CW affiliate WUPA who runs The CW4kids on Sunday because of other programming airing on Saturdays).

City of license/market	Fox station	CW station carrying block	Notes
Atlanta, Georgia	WAGA-TV	WUPA	WUPA was a UPN O&O at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV; it dropped the block before the station switched to The CW
Cleveland, Ohio	WJW-TV	WBNX-TV	WBNX was a WB affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Fresno, California	KMPH	KFRE-TV	Duopoly owned by Pappas Telecasting Companies (stations to be sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group); KFRE was a WB affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Omaha, Nebraska	KPTM	KXVO	Duopoly owned by Pappas Telecasting Companies; KXVO was a WB affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV
Phoenix, Arizona	KSAZ	KASW	KASW was a WB affiliate at the time it began carrying 4KidsTV

New World stations and 4Kids TV

Dating back to the Fox Kids days, the stations that Fox acquired from New World Communications in 1994 generally did not air 4Kids TV. In some of the New World markets, 4Kids was not aired on any station. In a majority of these markets, an independent station carried this block: in others, the MyNetworkTV affiliate carried it: in still others, the CW affiliate carried it. The exception was St. Louis, Missouri, where KTVI carried 4Kids TV (airing two hours early, beginning at 5:00 a.m.).

KTVK and KASW

KTVK (channel 3) in Phoenix, Arizona became an independent station in December 1994 with KNXV-TV (channel 15) fully taking its place as Phoenix's ABC affiliate in January 1995 in a gradual shift of the affiliation to the latter station (which lost its Fox affiliation to KSAZ-TV). KTVK nominally became the market's WB affiliate, and also ran Fox Kids in the early afternoons and weekend mornings for about a year. KTVK owned a huge programming inventory (including Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and several off-network sitcoms during prime time), along with the WB programming it aired only on Saturday nights, so it was essentially programmed as an independent station.

KTVK lacked enough time in its broadcast day to air all of this programming even after dropping ABC, due to its news-intensive schedule. As such, when the Brooks family launched a new station, KASW (channel 61), in September 1995, KTVK's then-owner MAC America Communications immediately entered into a local marketing agreement with the new station. KTVK bought KASW's entire broadcast day to run shows that did not fit into its own schedule, and moved the WB affiliation to KASW from KTVK, with Fox Kids following by the end of 1996. KTVK then reinstated Saturday morning newscasts.

Ironically, Fox owns both KSAZ (channel 10; since 1997, when it acquired then-owner New World Communications) and KUTP (channel 45; then a UPN station, which it acquired in 2000 from Chris-Craft Television). It was thought that 4Kids TV would move to KUTP, but Fox still passed on it even for its duopoly partner in that market. It therefore remained on KASW.

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on an independent station

City of license/market	Fox station	Independent carrying block	Notes
Austin, Texas	KTBC	K13VC	aired only FoxBox from September 14, 2002 until March 29, 2003, when K13VC shut down
Kansas City, Missouri	WDAF-TV	KMCI	Aired on a one-hour delay starting at 8 a.m.
Tampa, Florida	WTVT	WMOR-TV	Aired Sundays starting at 8 a.m.

See also

• Toonzai
• 4Licensing Corporation

External links

• Fox
• IMDb page for "The Fight for the Fox Box", a half-hour TV special with multiple show crossovers.