In bolstering its family entertainment strategy, NBCUniversal has taken on full ownership of 24-hour preschool network Sprout, buying out the remaining shares from PBS and HIT Television Ventures.
Launched in 2005 as a joint venture between Comcast, PBS, Sesame Workshop and HIT Entertainment, Sprout will now be wholly owned and integrated within the NBCU Cable Entertainment Group.
The company says it sees tremendous potential in Sprout, which has grown to reach more than 60 million US homes and has generated more than 1.5 billion on-demand views.
On top of asserting a growing presence in the interactive space, Sprout features original programming, including The Chica Show (pictured) and Noodle and Doodle, a library of evergreen series like Caillou and Sesame Street, and US exclusives such as Lazytown and Tree Fu Tom.
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