A report on C21 Media has revealed that POP, POP Max, Tiny POP and the POP Player streaming service will be discontinued and shut down by the end of the year. All three channels, and its on demand streaming service, are owned by Narrative Entertainment who acquired the channels from Sony several years ago.
Originally POP, and its sister TV channels POP Max and Tiny POP, were available on Freeview, Freesat, Virgin Media and Sky, but over the past few years the channels have slowly been removed from the Freeview and Freesat line-up. More recently all three channels, and the POP UP / POP Player Streaming service, became listed as Freeview channels on compatible Smart TV’s as an internet streaming channel (rather than a traditional free-to-air channel).
POP, POP Max and Tiny Pop are one of the last remaining dedicated children’s TV channels in the UK, with the exception of CBBC and CBeebies, and this service termination means that CBBC and CBeebies will be the last remaining dedicated Children’s TV channel in the UK. According to the report on C21 Media the reason for the service termination of the POP branding is because of the changing nature in how people watch TV, as people (especially younger audiences) watch shows on demand at any time.
So, why is this news important and relevant? Well POP and POP Max have previously broadcast edited forms of anime, such as Bakugan, Dragon Ball Super, Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Pokemon Journeys and Transformers Cyberverse, and these channels offered a free way to watch those shows without a subscription. Most notably POP was the UK TV Channel to first broadcast Dragon Ball Super in (edited) English Dub format and was where new episodes of Pokemon Journeys was first broadcast.
via: C21 Media
