Viacom and Comcast fight over Toddlers (CNN)
12-07-05, 11:17 PM
#1
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Viacom and Comcast fight over Toddlers (CNN)
Originally Posted by CNN
MUNCHKIN MINDSHARE: Comcast and Viacom Battle for the Kids
The media titans take different tracks in the fight to win the preschool set.
By Jon Birger
Three-year-olds don’t have disposable income. And when it comes to television, few of them channel-surf. Preschoolers, in other words, are not the audience you’d expect to be the focus of a cable TV turf war. Yet that’s exactly what’s brewing between media titans Comcast and Viacom.
Viacom, home to the Noggin and Nickelodeon networks—not to mention hit shows Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer—is the reigning champ of preschool cable. Noggin (which runs commercial-free from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., becoming teen network the N at night) has seen viewership jump 22% this year and has a budding hit in Jack’s Big Music Show, which features kiddie music star Laurie Berkner. Comcast is new to the game. It launched its Sprout network in September, in partnership with PBS, Sesame Workshop, and British kids’ TV producer HIT Entertainment, boasting name-brand shows Bob the Builder, Caillou, and Angelina Ballerina, some of which used to air on Noggin.
[...]
Noggin itself is only a modest moneymaker—Viacom says it will generate about $25 million in cash flow this year on $70 million in revenue—but it serves as a valuable feeder to the Nickelodeon network. More profitable than MTV and Comedy Central combined, Nick is expected to generate more than $900 million in cash flow for Viacom this year. Perhaps that’s why Zarghami isn’t shy about tweaking her new competition. “The thing everybody wants when they get into this space is to build consumer loyalty, develop a hit program, and be able to generate revenue from both,” she says. “For Sprout, the proof will be in the pudding when they start to launch original stuff.” Your kids won’t hesitate to tell you which is better.
the rest of the article...
The media titans take different tracks in the fight to win the preschool set.
By Jon Birger
Three-year-olds don’t have disposable income. And when it comes to television, few of them channel-surf. Preschoolers, in other words, are not the audience you’d expect to be the focus of a cable TV turf war. Yet that’s exactly what’s brewing between media titans Comcast and Viacom.
Viacom, home to the Noggin and Nickelodeon networks—not to mention hit shows Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer—is the reigning champ of preschool cable. Noggin (which runs commercial-free from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., becoming teen network the N at night) has seen viewership jump 22% this year and has a budding hit in Jack’s Big Music Show, which features kiddie music star Laurie Berkner. Comcast is new to the game. It launched its Sprout network in September, in partnership with PBS, Sesame Workshop, and British kids’ TV producer HIT Entertainment, boasting name-brand shows Bob the Builder, Caillou, and Angelina Ballerina, some of which used to air on Noggin.
[...]
Noggin itself is only a modest moneymaker—Viacom says it will generate about $25 million in cash flow this year on $70 million in revenue—but it serves as a valuable feeder to the Nickelodeon network. More profitable than MTV and Comedy Central combined, Nick is expected to generate more than $900 million in cash flow for Viacom this year. Perhaps that’s why Zarghami isn’t shy about tweaking her new competition. “The thing everybody wants when they get into this space is to build consumer loyalty, develop a hit program, and be able to generate revenue from both,” she says. “For Sprout, the proof will be in the pudding when they start to launch original stuff.” Your kids won’t hesitate to tell you which is better.
the rest of the article...
Then I started reading the article and was suprised to learn a few things about how much money these networks pull in... even if they don't play commercials.
My kids are Nick and Noggin fiends, so my loyalties go that direction... as for OnDemand shows for my kids, I'll just TiVo it and they can watch it later.
Thought this would be an interesting read for some of you.
12-08-05, 11:27 AM
#2
DVD Talk Legend
We are a Noggin family here. 
Sprout is on DirecTV channel 295. The only time we use that channel is at night, if we can't get our son to settle back to sleep -- something about staring at cartoons settles him down when he is in super-anxious rolling around mode. (We usually keep several Blues Clues episodes in the Tivo for this purpose also.)
I hate Sprout, the only good thing I can say about it is that it is on 24 hours a day unlike Noggin. They have this horrible chick that talks between the shows and I hate her. She is so phony. She is definitely no Moose A. Moose!
Sprout is on DirecTV channel 295. The only time we use that channel is at night, if we can't get our son to settle back to sleep -- something about staring at cartoons settles him down when he is in super-anxious rolling around mode. (We usually keep several Blues Clues episodes in the Tivo for this purpose also.)
I hate Sprout, the only good thing I can say about it is that it is on 24 hours a day unlike Noggin. They have this horrible chick that talks between the shows and I hate her. She is so phony. She is definitely no Moose A. Moose!
