This news comes with three things – good news, bad news, and a preface.
PREFACE:
Two and a half years ago when my family visited Massachusetts for a couple of weeks we stayed in a house in Salem. Nearly every day we went out and did something, and almost every day our normal schedule was, to put it best, “off” by a bit. This meant normal television viewing was not done at regular hours. We might wake up, leave, come home in the evening and as I was making dinner the kids would watch a little television. Invariably this was the PBS Kids channel operated by WGBH which had 24 hour programming of PBS Kids programs. It was a lifesaver in many ways because we could always count on something appropriate for everybody to be showing no matter the time while we were on “vacation time”.
THE GOOD NEWS:
KCTS 9 has announced it would launch a similar channel on April 1. You will be able to find the programming broadcast over the air on channel 9.2 then on cable via Comcast Channel 337; in Yakima, it will broadcast on Channel 47.2 and on Charter Cable on Channel 297. The main KCTS channel 9 will not be altered in any way, broadcasting PBS Kids programs in the morning and early afternoon, then its regular slate of programs the rest of the time.
THE BAD NEWS:
Satellite subscribers (like myself) will have no access to the channel as broadcast. There are currently no deals with DirecTV or Dish Network (and there probably will not be).
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE (from the press release):
The channel will also be available as a live stream on KCTS9.org/kids and on the free PBS KIDS Video App for mobile and tablet devices. Later this year, the live stream will introduce a first-of-its-kind integrated games feature, enabling children to toggle between a PBS KIDS show and an activity that extends learning—all in one seamless digital experience.