*cracks knuckles*
Provided the Children's Television Act of 1990 is still being enforced, there will still be Saturday mornings. And EVERY broadcast channel will have to air, at minimum, three hours of educational/informational programming on their lineups, including the digital subchannels.
Translation: even the all-news and all-weather subchannels as well as newer subchannels like FUNimation, LATV, RTN, .2, and others yet to be created will have the air children's E/I programming to fullfill the quota.
Here's what I think will happen to Saturday mornings to the channels we know in 2013:
ABC: Still Disney Channel-dependent. I could see the successor show of Hannah Montana (and you know they're contemplating life without the series) being a spotlight franchise on the block. They'll have a few cartoons, but a bulk of the E/I-branded lineup will remain live-action. Power Rangers will remain in some form. Won't it be close to the 20th anniversary of the property by then?
CBS: Unless DiC, Corus, and NBC Universal does finally bite the bullet and launch a stateside version of KidsCo, DiC will still be a programming partner of CBS.
NBC/ION/Telemundo: Still qubo, although all four of the programming partners (NBC, Corus, Entertainment Rights, and Scholastic) will provide one new show on the broadcast block. The qubo digital channel will become a more linear channel by then with a 24-hour lineup instead of a repeating six-hour lineup.
FOX: Either Cookie Jar or Nelvana will program the block after 2009. It'll be a mix of E/I and non-E/I programming from the studios (the affiliates are responsible for filling at least two of the three hours themselves throughout the week). Fox will produce a show themselves for the block by then.
The CW: Gone. It'll be gone by Fall 2009. 4Kids will still syndicate their block to the former CW affiliates, but by 2013 will have no need to continue. By 2013, they would have proven that they could produce two broadcast blocks that they could have a enough experience to launch a linear digital channel, either on cable/satelite/FIOS or on a digital subchannel.