Ion Media gets positively charged by kids programming

IF the already jam-packed U.S. kids TV market appears to be changing at a rapid clip, just wait until September. That's when the newest kids destination will hit the ground running with three weekend blocks (in English and Spanish), a 24-hour diginet, a weekly strip, VOD services and an integrated website. It's a massive undertaking by West Palm Beach, Florida's ION Media Networks (formerly Paxson Communications), especially since the broadcast and cabsat distribution group has never before dabbled in kids programming. But Brandon Burgess, CEO at ION, says kids is one of the few categories that has potential to be profitable, and believes there's a lot of good programming that isn't being picked up in the States.