Discovery Kids is getting a massive overhaul, as its owners enter into a major deal with Hasbro.
Discovery Communication, the company that owns the various Discovery channels, has entered into a deal with Hasbro to create a new, as yet unnamed television channel.
Hasbro is the company that owns the Transformers and G.I.JOE franchises, as well as Wizards of the Coast, who own Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. The only catch is that Discovery Kids has to die so that this new channel can be born.
The deal was announced on Thursday in a press release on the Discovery website, which outlined the new channels goals:
Both the network and the venture’s online component will feature content from Hasbro’s rich portfolio of entertainment and educational properties built over the past 90 years, including original programming for animation, game shows, and live-action series and specials. New programming will be based on brands such as ROMPER ROOM, TRIVIAL PURSUIT, SCRABBLE, CRANIUM, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, GAME OF LIFE, TONKA and TRANSFORMERS, among many others.
When I was a kid I’d have given my right arm for a Transformers TV channel. Hell, who am I kidding, I’d still give my right arm for a Transformers TV channel, but not everyone is so keen.
Susan Linn, the director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, had this to say about the deal: “This partnership represents a new low in children’s television, a network devoted to showing infomercials for Hasbro’s toys and games. It will make a mockery of existing ad limits and the current prohibition of product placement in children’s television.”
I must admit, as much as the prospect of ‘Transformers TV’ hits me right in the nostalgia zone, Ms Linn does kinda have a point.
Source: io9
