The three-hour ABC Weekend Adventure will make its debut on Sept. 3. The weekend block of six half-hour E/I shows will air on most ABC O&Os and affiliates.
UPDATED
Litton To Supply Kids Block For ABC Stations
Starting this fall, Litton Entertainment will supply a three-hour block of programming to most ABC O&Os and affiliates that is intended to meet their FCC children’s educational programming obligation.
The six half-hour shows, packaged as the ABC Weekend Adventure, are set to make their debut on Sept. 3 from 9 a.m. to noon ET and air in pattern each Saturday at that time thereafter.
Announcement of the arrangement came during a meeting of ABC affiliates in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Litton’s opportunity arose last March when the ABC network let it be known that it would no longer offer educational/instructional programming mandated by the FCC. NBC and CBS continue to deliver the service.
Litton CEO Dave Morgan said winning the business was a multi-step process. It first had to win the endorsement of the affiliate board. It then had to sell the O&Os and each station group with ABC affiliates on the merits of its package.
He believes Litton prevailed over two competitors by promising original, “pro-social programming” that would counterprogram other Saturday morning fare by targeting children between 13 and 16. “I strongly recommended not going after the 12-and-under market.”
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Each of six shows will deliver 26 original episodes each year, including four best-of shows. That’s a total of 156 originals each year and it means that stations will only have to repeat a episode once each year, Morgan said.
Morgan said he was proud of the content of the shows and that he and the stations were giving young teenagers something other than “socially unattractive” programming like Jersey Shore to watch.
“This is an audience that is misunderstood, underserved and most at risk,” he said. “My hope that one day a teacher, or social worker or doctor tells me that they were inspired by the programming that we put on. I believe that is possible.”
Morgan said that Litton is hanging on to and selling all the spot inventory in the shows and will split the revenue with the stations. He declined to say what the split is.
Bill Hoffman, GM of WSB Atlanta and head of the ABC affiliate board, was as enthusiastic about the new children’s block as Morgan.
“ABC Weekend Adventure will ensure that our television stations continue to provide quality educational, entertaining programming for our audience,” he said in a statement. “This fresh and dynamic slate is an exciting educational adventure that compels viewers to participate in their world.”
The six shows: Jack Hanna’s Wild Countdown, Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin; Born to Explore with Richard Wiese, Agents of Change from producer Mark Koops, The Delicious Adventures of Claire Thomas from Tom Lynch and Lee Gaither’s Basil Street Media and Culture Click with Nzinga Blake.
“We are bringing some talent firepower to the block,” Morgan said.
Comments (5)
Gregg Palermo says:
May 25, 2011 at 8:50 am
A real feel-good story, except that kids won’t watch. Having seen what kids throw away in school cafeterias designed to make parents feel-good about nutrition, it saddens me to see the FCC force unwanted programming on unwilling children. But, hey, it makes the like of Peggy Charren feel good and that’s all that matters.
Steve Karnowski says:
May 25, 2011 at 11:56 am
Litton is to be complimented on this huge undertaking. Stations feel entitled to free EI shows at the expense of the producer although the ad dollars from EI are marginal at best. Stations lose sight of the value producers bring them with barter product that fills a government mandated FCC requirement. I know of many EI shows that can’t cover the cost of production and distribution. It’s very generous of Litton to offer revenue sharing while producing so many episodes of quality programs. I hope ABC realizes what a sweet deal they have.
Samantha Akinduro says:
May 25, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Seems incredibly interesting with what they are trying to accomplish. Just started following Litton Entertainment on Twitter and look forward to seeing what else they roll out. Check ’em out if you get a minute: http://www.twitter.com/littontv
Just Fine says:
May 25, 2011 at 3:53 pm
The fact that The Walt Disney Company wouldn’t create/produce/air new, original programming for their broadcast network’s Saturday morning lineup is sad, depressing, and troubling to say the least. It’s not that they didn’t have the resources, it’s just that over the past decade, they really haven’t tried. For the guy who brought up Peggy Charren in this conversation, a sidebar. She was an advocate for the initial Children’s Act of 1990, but not the guidelines that were adapted by the FCC in 1996. The 1990 act didn’t force an hourly quota while the 1996 FCC law did. Charren retired and disbanded the Action for Children’s Television group in 1992, but she remains a supporter of public broadcasting. That’s another thing. I always found it hypocritical for Congress to force broadcasters to air educational fare while, in the same breath, trying their damnedest to get rid of PBS, a broadcast outlet that does that every day of the week. Still, about 85% of kids won’t be watching these shows in droves. They’ll likely be watching Nickelodeon. Or Disney Channel.
Steve Karnowski says:
May 25, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Although Disney could have, they obviously were not making money. Kai Sen is right – the teen/kid audience is not watching network TV Saturday mornings – but that doesn’t change the FCC directive. Without the directive, there would be no kids programming on television – trust me – it’s only because it is required that it’s there. With programming that attracts the family while complying with the FCC, hopefully, parents will call the kids in to watch the shows with them coming out of GMA. PBS was educating kids before it was popular. I raised two kids on Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, hot dogs and mac ‘n cheese