6 am-3 pm (2001–04) 6 am-1:30 pm (2004–05) 6 am-9 am (2005–06, then again 2020–21) 6 am-12:00 pm (2006–07) 6 am-8 am (2007-2011) 4 pm-5 pm (formerly) 6 am-11 am (2011–20) 6 am-10 am (2020) 6 am-8 am (2021-24)
Original language(s)
English
HBO Kids (formerly Jam) was an American preschool/children's television morning programming block operated by Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. The block ran on HBO Family, HBO's sister station that targets children and families.[1]
The block ran from 6:00 am to roughly 8:00 to 9:00 am (ET) on weekdays; the block's programs were not shown in a standard half-hour timeslot. In the mid-2010s, the block had a weekday 4pm timeslot, which was filled with The Electric Company. The block also aired on weekends until October 2020.
History
In 2001, HBO Family launched two children's programming blocks: Jam in the morning, and Magnet on weekday afternoons. Programming for both blocks was developed in coordination with CINAR Animation, Nelvana Limited, Sony Entertainment, Sandpaper Films, Scholastic, Devine Entertainment, S4C, HiT Entertainment, Golden Egg Entertainment, Poseidon Pictures, Cuppa Coffee Studios, Curious Pictures, Hyperion Pictures, and Planet Grande.[1] Starting in 2007, with a new set of CGI bumpers for the block, HBO began to slowly remove the block's acquired programming, exclusively focusing on HBO's original children's series. For several years, no new programs were produced or acquired for the block, focusing exclusively on reruns of HBO's own children's programs.
On August 13, 2015, HBO announced a deal with Sesame Workshop to move first-run Sesame Street episodes on HBO.[2] New episodes of Sesame Street began premiering on the network on January 16, 2016, alongside reruns of other Sesame Workshop-produced programming, including The Electric Company and Pinky Dinky Doo.[3] Jam would later rebrand as HBO Kids. On November 12, 2020, first-run Sesame Street episodes moved to HBO Max starting with its 51st season.
On August 18, 2018, the animated series Esme & Roy, also produced by Sesame Workshop, premiered.[4] HBO removed all Sesame Workshop shows from its HBO Family channel by January 2021, reverting the block back to HBO's original children's series. However, most of the acquired shows from Sesame Workshop remained available on the HBO Max streaming service until January 2, 2021, with only Sesame Street, Esme & Roy, and any Sesame Workshop show made exclusive for the streaming service still being available. From that point, the block's schedule featured four of HBO's original children's programs, followed by a children's television special, before airing one more program, then starting one of the channel's circulated movies or specials.[5]
On February 29, 2024, the block ended; no explanation was given, although HBO and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery chose to focus less on children's programming as they had low viewership on Max; the block's parent channel HBO Family is slated for closure on August 15, 2025.[6][7]
1Currently a block of Adult Swim that is now aimed toward an older demographic.
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