London-based broadcasting company Narrative Entertainment has made the decision to shut down its free-to-air British kids channel POP Max after 17 years on Sky’s platforms.

POP Channels director Francesca Newington confirmed the news on LinkedIn yesterday, saying the closure is linked to the current kids TV industry downturn. All of POP Max’s content has been removed from Sky Q and Sky+ HD, transitioning to Narrative’s POP Player app instead. But the company’s POP HD and Tiny POP HD linear channels are unaffected.

Sky removed POP Max from its Freeview TV service last December as part of a platform refresh. Originally owned by CSC Media Group, the channel debuted in the UK market 17 years ago as Kix!, catering to kids ages six and up with a mix of sci-fi, adventure and anime programming. 

Sony Pictures Television UK acquired Kix! in 2014 and rebranded it as POP Max in 2017. And then Narrative bought Sony’s entire UK channels portfolio in 2021, a deal that also brought POP, Tiny POP, Sony Movies and Sony Channel under its umbrella.