HBO Kids

HBO Kids

Network	HBO Family
Launched	August 26, 2001 (2001-08-26)
Country of origin	United States
Owner	Home Box Office, Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery)
Formerly known as	Jam (2001–2016)
Sister network	Magnet (2001–2005)
Running time	6am-3pm (2001-2004) 6am-1:30pm (2004-2005) 6am-9am (2005-2006; 2020-2021) 6am-12:00am (2006-2007) 6am-8am 6am-10am (2020) 4pm-5pm (formerly) 6am-11am (2011–2020) 5am-6pm (2021-present)
Original language(s)	English
Official website	Official website

HBO Kids (formerly Jam) is an American preschool/children's television morning block operated by Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. The block runs on HBO Family, HBO's sister station that targets children and families.

The block runs from 6:00 am to roughly 8:00 to 9:00 am (ET) on weekdays; the block's shows are not shown in a standard half-hour timeslot. The block used to have an weekday 4pm timeslot, which was filled with The Electric Company. The block used to also air on weekends until October 2020.

History

In 2001, HBO Family launched two children's programming blocks: Jam in the morning, and Magnet on weekday afternoons. Programming for both blocks was developed in coordination with CINAR Animation, Nelvana Limited, Sony Entertainment, Sandpaper Films, Scholastic, Devine Entertainment, S4C, HiT Entertainment, Golden Egg Entertainment, Poseidon Pictures, Cuppa Coffee Studios, Curious Pictures, Hyperion Pictures, and Planet Grande. Starting in 2007, with a new set of CGI bumpers for the block, HBO began to slowly remove the block's acquired programming, exclusively focusing on HBO's original children's series. For several years, no new programs were produced or acquired for the block, focusing exclusively on reruns of HBO's own children's programs.

On August 13, 2015, HBO announced a deal with Sesame Workshop to move first-run Sesame Street episodes on HBO. The episodes premiered on the network on January 16, 2016, alongside other Sesame Workshop-produced programming, including The Electric Company and Pinky Dinky Doo. The following day (which was January 17), Jam rebranded as HBO Kids. On November 12, 2020, first-run Sesame Street episodes moved to HBO Max (via. Cartoonito) starting with its 51st season.

On August 18, 2018, an animated series entitled Esme & Roy, also produced by Sesame Workshop, premiered. HBO removed all Sesame Workshop shows from its HBO Family channel by January 2021, reverting the block back to HBO's original children's series. However, most of the acquired shows from Sesame Workshop were still available on the HBO Max streaming service until January 2, 2021, with only Sesame Street, Esme & Roy, and any Sesame Workshop show made exclusive for the streaming service still being available. Currently, the block's schedule shows four of HBO's original programs, followed by a children's TV special, before airing one more program, then starting one of the channel's circulated movies or specials.

Programming

Current programming

Original programming

Title	Original run	HBO Kids run	Source(s)
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	March 12, 1995 – July 18, 2000	August 26, 2001 – 2004; January 2005 – present
Crashbox	February 1, 1999 – April 1, 2000	January 2005 – present
Where’s Miss Rosie Going?	December 1, 1999 – December 15, 2007	August 26, 2001 – present
Kindergarten	August 26, 2001 – September 7, 2001	August 26, 2001 – present
Land Of My Letter People Journal	August 26, 2001 – May 1, 2003	August 26, 2001 – present
HBO Storybook Musicals1	November 18, 1987 – December 8, 1993	August 26, 2001 – present
Surprise!	October 15, 2001 – December 24, 2001	October 18, 2001 – present
Olivia and her Magic Musicals	December 16, 2001 – present	December 16, 2001 – present
El Perro y El Gato1	October 2003 – present	2008 – present
The Music of Letter People Land	December 16, 2003 – present	December 16, 2003 – present
A Little Curious	February 1, 2004 – May 1, 2007	February 1, 2004– present
Classical Baby1	May 14, 2005 – present	May 14, 2005 – present

Former programming

• Harold and the Purple Crayon (December 1, 2001 – 2011)
• I Spy (December 2002 – July 2011)
• Stuart Little (March 2003 – 2010)

Former acquired programming

• Pippi Longstocking (1998–1999)
• Babar (2001 – 2004)
• George and Martha (2001 – 2009)
• Postman Pat (September 1, 2005 – September 30, 2007)
• Magic Cellar
• Sesame Street (January 17, 2016 – November 1, 2020, now on PBS Kids and HBO Max)
• Fraggle Rock (December 2016 – 2019) (now on Apple TV+)
• Animated Tales of the World
• Anthony Ant
• Encyclopedia
• Esme & Roy (Now on Cartoonito)
• Rainbow Fish
• The Adventures of Paddington Bear
• The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures
• The Little Lulu Show
• The Neverending Story
• The Storyteller (1998–2000)

Reruns of ended Sesame Workshop series

Title	Original network	Original run	HBO Kids run	Now on	Source(s)
The Electric Company	PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids	January 23, 2009 – April 4, 2011	January 17, 2016 – November 1, 2020	The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
Pinky Dinky Doo	Noggin Nick Jr.	April 10, 2006 – June 17, 2010	January 17, 2016 – January 2, 2021	Knowledge Kids

Short-form programming

• HBO Family: 411 (1999 – 2016)
• Who Knew? (1999 – 2016)
• Smart Mouth (1999 – 2016)
• Jammin' Animals (2001 – 2016)
• My Favorite Book (2001 – 2016)
• El Perro y El Gato (2003 – 2016)
• Just Wondering (2009 – 2016)
• Sesame Street Shorts (January 17, 2016 – November 1, 2020)
• And Now You Know
• Eat 5
• I Want To Be
• Matters of Fact
• Lisa
• The Way I See It
• When I'm...

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• What’s My Musical Line (1996 TV Series)
• Disney Mom
• ¡De Cabeza! (American programming block)
• Nickelodeon Saturday programming block
• We Are Completely Beside Ourselves (miniseries)
• Nick Jr. (TV programming block)
• Codes of Conduct

---