Citing financial constraints, PBS has pulled the plug on its much balyhooed October launch of a digital kids channel, PBS Kids Go!, saying it is rethinking the strategy of a linear channel targeted to elementary school kids.
"An insufficient number of stations are in a position to financially sustain the service," PBS said in a brief statement.
Other options for expansion into the elementary school area in the near future--the next several months--could be a VOD service or other new media delivery, though it also said a channel is not off the table at some future date.
PBS will continue to program its PBS Kids Go! two-hour afternoon block and add programming to pbskidsgo.org.
Only three months ago, PBS announced the October launch of a channel that was expected to have wide cable carriage out of the gate thanks to a digital carriage deal between noncoms and major cable operators.
