Universal Kids
On October 20, 2004, Universal Studios announced that it had entered into a partnership with cable provider Comcast and production companies HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop to launch a 24-hour cable network aimed at preschool children. Created to “strengthen the competitive positions” of all of the parties, PBS Vice-President of digital ventures Deron Triff noted that the content would be “consistent with Universal’s values” and “meet certain curricular objectives and have been tested for educational efficacy.” On April 4, 2005, Comcast announced that the network would be known as Universal Sprout—a spin-off from PBS's children's programming brand Universal. The service would soft launch as a branded video on-demand (VOD) service. Universal Sprout launched its 24-hour cable channel on September 26, 2005, with a reach of around 16 million viewers across the Comcast and Insight cable systems.