In the United States, the series had first appeared only as sequences on "Shining Time Station" during the program's run from 1989 to 1995 on PBS. The sequences of the series later aired in 1996 on "Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales". The series aired as "Storytime with Thomas" on Fox Family (now Freeform) from 1999 to 2001. When "Thomas & Friends" returned as a stand-alone half-hour program on PBS Kids, it was first distributed from 2004 to 2007 by Connecticut Public Television, and then by WNET from 2008 to 2017. It also aired on Sprout from 2005 to 2015. The rights to broadcast the series through PBS expired in December 2017, thus ending a period of almost 30 years of programming related to "Thomas & Friends" on American public television. In 2018 and 2019, Nickelodeon held exclusive rights to the series in the United States. In 2020, the streaming rights were sold to Netflix, with traditional television rights (if any) left unresolved. It also airs on Kabillion.