Pop (British and Irish TV channel)

Pop (stylised as POP) is a free-to-air television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Sony Pictures Television. Its target audience is 7 to 16-year-old children

History
The channel was originally launched on 1 October 2002 by CSC Media Group as Toons and Tunes. The channel was then later re-branded as Pop on 23 May 2003.

In the channel's early years, links were presented by Rorry, a lime green dragon with a Scottish accent (who had appeared in an ITV Saturday Morning programme in Autumn 1997 under the name Tricky and spoke with an English accent) who was animated live. He was accompanied by Purrdy, a dragon/cat hybrid who also appeared in original the Tricky programme on ITV.

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 around 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.

On 1st September 2020, POP changed its on-air identity, and on the same day, Pokemon Journeys: The Series and Bakugan: Armored Alliance made its debut.

Programming
The network sources their programming from multiple independent studios.

Current programming

 * 44 Cats (Also on Nickelodeon & Nick Jr.)
 * ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks (Also on Nickelodeon)
 * The Amazing Life of Pizzy and Fifi
 * Bakugan: Armored Alliance
 * Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures
 * Big Top Academy
 * Counterfeit Cat
 * Cupcake & Dino: General Services
 * The Doggies
 * Doraemon (Formerly on Boomerang)
 * Dragon Ball Super
 * Grizzy and the Lemmings (Also on Boomerang)
 * Hanazuki: Full of Treasures
 * Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Series
 * Kid Icarus: Divine Adventures
 * Lego City Adventures
 * Lego Friends
 * Mega Man: Fully Charged
 * Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (Formerly on Disney Channel)
 * The Misadventures of Siara
 * Pokémon
 * Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon
 * Pokémon Journeys: The Series
 * Power Rangers Beast Morphers
 * Sadie Sparks (Formerly on Disney Channel)
 * Shantae: Adventures in Sequin Land
 * Space Chickens In Space (Formerly on Disney XD)
 * Sonic Boom
 * Talking Tom & Friends
 * Strange Chores
 * Total DramaRama
 * Trollhunters
 * The Vocaloids

Former programming

 * 3-2-1 Penguins!
 * Adventures of Kit Mineko
 * Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
 * The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
 * Alan the Last Dinosaur
 * Alaina Gleen
 * The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers
 * Ani-Yoko: My Next Door Neighbor
 * Animal Exploration with Jarod Miller
 * Archie's Weird Mysteries
 * The Babaloos
 * Babar
 * Backyard Science
 * Battle B-Daman
 * Battle B-Daman: Fire Spirits
 * The Beatles
 * The Berenstain Bears
 * Bindi the Jungle Girl
 * Blazing Dragons
 * Bump in the Night
 * Cardcaptor Sakura
 * Care Bears
 * Clang Invasion
 * The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
 * Cookie & Cream
 * Corduroy
 * Cyberchase
 * Dan Vs.
 * Dennis the Menace
 * Digimon Adventure
 * Digimon Adventure 02
 * Digimon: Data Squad
 * Digimon Frontier
 * Digimon Tamers
 * Dinotrux
 * Dr. Dimensionpants
 * El Chavo: The Animated Series
 * Elliot Moose
 * Erky Perky
 * F-Zero: GP Legend
 * Fighting Foodons
 * Finding Stuff Out
 * Freaktown
 * Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Gabriel Garza
 * The Gees
 * George and Martha
 * Grossology
 * H2O: Just Add Water
 * Hareport
 * Hamtaro
 * Hulk: The Animated Series
 * Iggy Arbuckle
 * I.N.K. Invisible Network of Kids
 * InuYasha
 * Kampung Boy
 * Kid Detectives
 * The Kidriends
 * Kikoriki
 * Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
 * King Arthur's Disasters
 * Kururin: The Mischief Flying Hero
 * The Land Before Time
 * LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures
 * The Legend of White Fang
 * Little Bear
 * Little Witch Academia
 * Little Wizard Tao
 * Littlest Pet Shop
 * Madeline
 * The Magic School Bus
 * Malachi 4ever!
 * Malachi and Friends
 * Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse
 * Metal Slug
 * Mona the Vampire
 * Moomin
 * The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show
 * My Hero Academia
 * My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
 * My Melody's Magical Adventure
 * The New Adventures of Lassie
 * The New Adventures of Nanoboy
 * The New Woody Woodpecker Show
 * Niz Chicoloco
 * Noah's Island
 * Numb Chucks
 * Old Tom
 * Oggy and the Cockroaches
 * Onion Mastori
 * Oscar's Oasis
 * Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
 * Pandalian
 * Patrol 03
 * Pearlie
 * Pippi Longstocking
 * PINY: Institute of New York
 * Pirate Express
 * Planetokio
 * Pochacco
 * Polly Pocket
 * Power Stone
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 * Puyo Puyo
 * The Raggy Dolls
 * Ray Eilo
 * Redwall
 * Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood
 * Robinson Sucroe
 * Robotboy
 * Rose Land
 * Ruby Gloom
 * Rupert
 * Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch
 * The Seven Deadly Sins
 * Sitting Ducks
 * Slugterra
 * The Smurfs
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Stickin' Around
 * Stuart Little: The Animated Series
 * Sugarbunnies
 * Super Duper Sumos
 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
 * Super Mario World
 * Sword Art Online
 * Tama and Friends
 * Time Warped
 * Timothy Goes to School
 * Totally Spies!
 * Tracey McBean
 * Tractor Tom
 * Transformers: Cybertron
 * Transformers: Energon
 * Transformers: Rescue Bots
 * Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia
 * Tube Mice
 * Tenchi Universe
 * The Wacky World of Tex Avery
 * Toonsylvania
 * Twipsy
 * Untalkative Bunny
 * VeggieTales
 * Wackyville, U.S.A.
 * Wild But True
 * Winx Club
 * The Wizard of Oz
 * Wonderful Darlene
 * Yail Darlene's Kakegurui
 * YooHoo & Friends
 * Zina Supermoon

Freeview
On 20 March 2014, Pop was launched on Freeview. 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. 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.

Pop +1
A time shift feed called Pop +1 was available until 2008, when it was replaced by Kix!; in turn, that network's +1 feed was discontinued on 14 July 2014 with Pop +1's return.

International versions
In December 2003, Universal Studios and CSC Media Group discussed plans to launch an American version of the Pop network as a companion channel to it's sister network Gingo, but however, by 2004, it never came to fruition. CBS and Lionsgate later launched an unrelated channel with the same name in 2015 becoming the new name for TV Guide Network.

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.

The Pakistani version of Pop is operated by Edutainment (Pty.) Ltd. under the license of Sony Pictures Television.