Three beloved kids TV channels are shutting down in hours after 16 years of broadcasting
A TRIO of kids channels will vanish from TV screens in a matter of hours in the latest blow to Brit viewers.
The main channel has been around for 16 years, albeit with a different name when it first burst onto the scene.
POP Max will cease broadcasting on all Sky platforms from Tuesday (April 22).
This includes the main POP Max and POP Max+1 on Sky Q and Sky+HD, as well as POP Max HD on Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
The channel was already removed from Freeview last year amid a shift towards digital streaming.
POP Max first started out life known as Kix in 2008, before being rebranded in 2017 under the current name familiar to kids today.
“End of an era with Kix and Pop Max,” one viewer wrote on YouTube.
“Can’t say I’m surprised though. Taking it off Freeview back in December was the final nail in the coffin.”
“Didn’t see that coming,” another commented.
POP Max shows animated programmes including Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series and Droners.
However, it’s thought that many of these will continue to be available on demand via the free POP Player app.
Sky announced that the channels are shutting down via its website.
Other POP branded-channels will remain on-air but some are moving as a result of the closures.
On satellite, Tiny POP is moving from 618 up to 615 from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Tiny POP+1 will jump from 629 to 619.
And POP+1 is also shifting from 619 to 618.
Will more kids TV channels vanish?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
These latest closures don’t come as much of a shock with children largely shifting to digital platforms for entertainment thanks to apps like TikTok and YouTube.
Some of the POP’s other channels have gone digital-only already.
And in September 2023 the CITV channel closed down, switching to a new digital-only streamed channel ITVX Kids on the ITVX app.
The BBC have been mulling the closure of CBBC’s linear channel and making it digital only via iPlayer too.
But it’s been granted a temporary reprieve for now.
Children’s TV boss Patricia Hidalgo told the i paper at the end of 2024 that “currently the numbers don’t tell us you have to close it yet”, adding: “It’s really important to us as public service broadcasters that if children still need us on a linear network, we’re going to be there for them.”