Free-to-air television channel in the UK
Television channel
Pop (stylised as POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited.[1] Its target audience is 4 to 9-year-old children.[2]
History
Pop was originally launched on 29 May 2003 by Chart Show Channels as Toons & Tunes.[3] Toons and Tunes was then later rebranded as Pop following its test transmissions.
In Pop's early years, links were presented by Rorry, a lime green dragon with a Scottish accent, who was animated live. He was accompanied by Purrdy, a dragon/cat hybrid who also appeared in the original Tricky programme on ITV,[4] it was sometimes followed by a programme known as "The Cheeky Monkey Show" which features the live links of the animated coloured monkeys known as "The Cheeky Monkeys," that was later known by appearing on its sister channel Tiny Pop until its retirement at the end of June 2009.
Originally, the network focused on music videos, with animated programming also part of the schedule, but with the numerous music video network options on British television at the time, this focus was quickly abandoned in 2004, when the animated content became much more prominent. Music videos continued to be carried on and off until 2007, before eventually being abandoned entirely.[citation needed]
In September 2020, Pop changed its on-air identity,[5] and on the same day, Pokemon Journeys: The Series[6] and Bakugan: Armored Alliance[5] made their debut.
Programming
The channel sources its programming from multiple independent studios.
Availability
Freeview
On 20 March 2014, Pop was launched on Freeview.[63] Prior to April 2016, Pop was only available in areas where there is a local TV channel. On 1 April 2016, Pop moved to a wider coverage nationwide freeview mix, becoming available to over 90% of the country.[64] The capacity vacated by Pop on the local multiplex was used to transmit Kix from 7 April 2016. Pop +1 moved to LCN channel 128, to release 127 for use by Kix, but was otherwise unaffected, continuing to broadcast locally to Manchester only.
On-demand
Pop programming in addition to content from sister channels POP MAX and Tiny POP are available to stream on demand from the free TV service and mobile app POP Player[65]and since May 2022, available on Freeview Channel 208.[66][67]
International versions
On 4 May 2017, Sony Pictures Television Networks launched an Italian version of Pop as their first Italian free-to-air offering, with a similar line-up of programming to the UK channel. The network closed alongside its sister channel Cine Sony on 11 July 2019, after Mediaset purchased both network slots from Sony. Pop's old slot would be used for Boing Plus.[68]
The Pakistani version of Pop is operated by Edutainment (Pty.) Ltd. under the license of Sony Pictures Television.[69]
