She said NBCUniversal wanted to create an “umbrella brand” for its family offerings — television cartoons made by<br />the Universal-owned DreamWorks Animation, Universal-Illumination films and attractions at Universal theme parks.<br />They want more than the same sitcoms.”<br />At its start, Universal Kids will also show reruns of DreamWorks Animation cartoons like<br />“All Hail King Julien,” which is connected to the “Madagascar” movie franchise.<br />“Reality programming is a real white space in the U. S. children’s market — food, pets,<br />dancing, even news,” said Ms. Brennan, who will be general manager of Universal Kids.<br />Starting on Sept. 9, NBCUniversal will turn one of its smallest cable properties, Sprout,<br />into a network called Universal Kids, said Deirdre Brennan, who will oversee the effort.<br />Ms. Hammer added that the goal was to create “an even richer entertainment experience and a new strategic business model.”<br />Continuing as it is now would have been perilous for Sprout, which has low ratings and reaches only about 59 million homes in the United States.<br />Viacom’s Nickelodeon held steady among viewers 2 through 11 in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago,<br />but Time Warner’s Cartoon Network fell 15 percent, according to Todd Juenger, a media analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
