Development and launch Upon recognizing that they were very few educational programming for elementary-age children, with most of PBS Kids' programs being viewed by preschoolers, PBS wanted to focus more on including shows for and targeting older children.'' effectively replacing PBS' original 24-hour
PBS Kids Channel. This left many local PBS stations with a vacancy on their multicast digital channel offerings (many filling it with a locally based PBS Kids channel), during a time when digital and high-definition broadcasts were increasing reach and gaining popularity. In April 2006, PBS announced plans for a replacement 24-hour digital multicast network called the
PBS Kids Go! Channel. This would expand upon the afternoon PBS Kids Go! block on PBS, with additional new content and reruns of returning programs, such as
HIT Entertainment's
Wishbone and ''
Kratts' Creatures''. Other exclusive content for this channel would include a one-hour Spanish-language block called "PBS Kids Vayan!" (Spanish for "Go!", which would air select shows in Spanish with English subtitles), an evening "Go! Family" block, and an educational "Go! Figure" school block. The PBS Kids Go! Channel was originally set to launch in October 2006. However, stations found that the sliding scale licensing fees were too high for what little exclusive programming they would have received, especially after spending additional funds for the PBS HD feed. With only one-third of PBS stations initially committing to carry the new network, the plans for the channel were ultimately withdrawn. PBS would later revive the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel on January 16, 2017 (a little over three years after the discontinuation of PBS Kids Go!), this time being structured as a
multi-platform service with an online livestream of the channel on the PBS Kids website and video app, in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel.
Later years Despite the failure to launch the 24-hour PBS Kids Go! Channel, the PBS Kids Go! afternoon block continued to air on local PBS stations over the next several years and continued to expand its lineup with new series, such as
Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman,
WordGirl,
The Electric Company, and
Wild Kratts. Many stations also carried other series under the PBS Kids Go! brand, such as
Design Squad and reruns of
Wishbone, which typically aired over the weekend. As online streaming began to increase in popularity, PBS developed the PBS Kids Go! video player on its website in 2008. This federally-funded, innovative video streaming platform featured video clips from a number of PBS Kids Go! shows which rotated on a weekly basis and linked to interactive online games. The video player would later evolve into the PBS Kids Video app, which is now the primary source for free streaming of on-demand video clips and full episodes of PBS Kids programming.
Closure On May 15, 2013, PBS announced at their annual conference that the PBS Kids Go! brand would be discontinued in the fall, with all Go! programming rebranded with an updated, universal branding design across all of PBS's children's programming. PBS considered the nine-year long effort to age up its overall audience to be successful, but studies showed that brand recognition was not strongly differentiated from that of PBS Kids, and many shows ended up being successful with broad audiences in both younger and older age groups. PBS Kids Go! was officially discontinued on October 6, 2013; with the shutdown, PBS Kids was rebranded a day later, on October 7, 2013, coinciding with the debut of
Peg + Cat. After the shutdown and the rebrand, all shows that premiered before the launch of the PBS Kids Go! block returned to the main PBS Kids block after nearly a decade, all shows that premiered during the PBS Kids Go! block were permanently moved to the main PBS Kids block, and the PBS Kids Go! website now redirects to the PBS Kids website. ==Programming==