Why did some Fox affiliates not air Fox Kids?

J

jes769

New member
Just wondering why some Fox affiliates chose not to run Fox Kids back in the 1990's, mostly the ones owned by New World Communications. Stations such as KTBC in Austin, TX, which didn't air Fox Kids OR 4KidsTV.

What I don't get is that Fox Kids actually had good ratings back then, especially with Power Rangers in its arsenal. After all, this was the 90's, when kids still watched broadcast TV. I would think that being on non-Fox stations in so many markets would have affected the ratings. Why didn't Fox force all of its affiliates to carry the block?
 
The affiliates of the major alphabet networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) had the option to not carry some or all of their networks' kids' programming, so I don't see Fox affiliates not having that same option. Also keep in mind that Fox was just a fledgeling network back then, and many of it's affiliates were probably already airing their own local programming during that time (as most of the channels which later became Fox affiliates were long established independent stations before joining Fox), and Fox Kids didn't have the clout that it would earn later on.
 
It's important to remember that FOX didn't have stations in every market, so Fox Kids, in an effort to allow more kids to watch Fox Kids, created a separate Fox Kids broadcasting contract allowing non-Fox affiliates to air the block. When a Fox affiliate was finally put in place, since another station already had rights then they couldn't air Fox Kids.

However the real reason is because Fox allowed non-Fox affiliates to air Fox Kids, then it made it where they couldn't require affiliates to air Fox Kids as part of the Fox national broadcasting content. When 4Kids acquired the Fox Kids contract, it was still separate from the Fox Broadcasting contract, so they inherited this same situation. That was the whole reason they changed the name from Fox Box to 4KidsTV. They said they wanted more people to recognize them as a TV Kids brand than a Fox brand since it aired on stations that weren't affiliated with Fox.

This is different than the contract they have with CW. Apparently they are required to keep the CW brand in the title, explaining why it is called Toonzai on CW4Kids, but whenever a CW station gets the broadcast rights for CW, they are also getting the contract for CW4Kids. The two are part of the same contract, despite 4Kids owning CW4Kids. The contract doesn't give the specific times that the kids shows must air, but they must air in order for a station to fulfill its contract with CW.
 
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