Apple TV+ has laid off eight members of its kids team, but head of children’s programming Tara Sorensen and senior creative executive Michele Hennessy will remain in their roles. Kidscreen has confirmed that the staff cuts affected development, production and music execs. 

Since establishing its children’s programming team in 2019, Apple TV+ has launched more than 60 titles for this audience. And the goal is to release roughly 40 more over the next few years. To that end, it has a first CG-animated Peanuts movie in the works with WildBrain and Peanuts Worldwide. 

Most recently, the streamer premiered DreamWorks Animation’s CURSES! in October, and season two of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock is coming up in March. 

Apple TV+ previously had a multi-year production collaboration in place with Skydance Animation for feature films and series. It yielded Luck, which the streamer premiered in August 2022. But then the partnership ended in October, when Netflix inked a deal with Skydance that included Spellbound—a pic that had originally been earmarked for Apple TV+.