Gingo

Gingo is an American pay television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel was launched on September 10, 1988, and is aimed mainly at children and young teenagers between the ages of 7 to 16. Its programming consists of original first-run television series, theatrically-released and home media-exclusive movies and select other third-party programming.

As of September 2018, Gingo is available to 86.4 million households in America.

Development
On February 13, 1988, following Greenville-based newspaper publisher and broadcaster Multimedia's purchase of Michael Wildshill Productions from Hanna-Barbera, Multimedia announced its plans to launch an animation-focused cable channel.

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1988–1995
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1995–2004
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2005–present
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Programming
Programming on Gingo includes original series such as Gabriel Garza, Bernard Revamped, and Niz Chicoloco (2018), as well as acquired programming from other studios, which as of March 2019 includes Durango Kids, Tales in Paradoria, Quest: Adventures of Ridder, Wishfart, Hero School, Luna & Zak: The Series, Lix & Melody: The New Tunes, Cupcake &amp; Dino: General Services, Snowsnaps, Woody Woodpecker (2018), and Zola: Queen of the Deep Web.

Current

 * Gingo Junior – Gingo programs series targeted at preschool-age children daily every morning on Monday through Fridays from 8:30 am- 2:00 pm Eastern and Pacific Time (7-10 am during the summer months, other designated school break periods, and on national holidays).
 * NightHouse – a late-night block targeted towards teens and adults, airing every night from 9 p.m. EST to 6 a.m. EST.
 * DreamWorks on Gingo – a block of animated series produced by DreamWorks Animation that airs from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, which resulted from NBCUniversal's 2016 acquisition of DreamWorks Animation.

Yearly

 * Epic Summer - The Epic Summer block replaces morning programming during the summer vacation period from July to early September, containing some of the channel's popular programs, and daily movies. The block also featured contests.
 * Creep Night - This block features Halloween specials.
 * Gingo's Snowy Specials – This block features holiday specials.

Former

 * Original blocks – In 1988, Gingo chose a different style of animation for each block. Each block was represented as planets: Morning Planet for Preschoolers (claymation animation; 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST), Afternoon Planet for Kids (2D cel animation; 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.), Evening Planet for Family (collage animation; 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST) and Night Planet for Adult (paper-mâché animation; 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. EST). In August 1994, all three planets were removed permanently.
 * The Big Crunch - It was the block for classic animated programming. It also featured several live-action series.
 * Variety - The Variety block aired weekday mornings from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EST and on Saturday mornings. It was known for airing new episodes of Gingo programming.
 * Sunday Nights - This block aired on Sunday from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST.
 * Double Pack – A weekday programming block featuring back-to-back episodes of network programming.
 * Toasted Saturdays - Launched in 2005, Toasted Saturdays was a Saturday morning and afternoon block. It was similar in format to the Australian children's television program Toasted TV.
 * The Big Flicks - A block that aired movies every Saturday at 6:00 p.m. EST (formerly at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. EST) and every Sunday morning with two movies. The channel previously broadcast films in the late 1990s under the Gingo Cinema banner, followed by The Film Theater in 2007 before adopting the name "The Big Flicks" in 2009.

Cross-programming with other networks
Cross-programming is a term used in broadcast programming.

From 1998 to 2004, USA Network also ran a Gingo programming block under the name USA Kids (originally titled Gingo on USA until October 2001), replacing the USA Action Extreme Team block which closed in 1998.

Related media and projects

 * See also: List of Gingo merchandise

Gingo.com
Gingo.com is Gingo's main website, which launched in 1996 as a component of America Online's Kids Only channel before eventually moving to the full World Wide Web. It provides content, as well as video clips and full episodes of Gingo series available for streaming.

Mobile apps
Gingo released a free mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers operating on the Apple and Android platforms in December 2012. Like Gingo.com, a TV Everywhere login code provided by participating subscription providers is required to view individual episodes of Gingo's series.

Gingo Animation
Gingo Animation is a production firm located in North Hollywood, California, which serves as the animation facilities for many of the network's animated series.

NightHouse Animation
NightHouse Animation is the adult production studio division that produces adult-oriented animated feature films and television series and provides an original program to Gingo's late-night program NightHouse, which is located in Burbank, California, along with the main headquarters of the Gingo animation studio.

Gingo Interactive
Gingo Interactive Software LLC (or simply Gingo Interactive) is the studio's in-house video game department. Founded in 1994, the studio is best known for developing the Niz Chicoloco, Chrysocolla and Fighting Royale games, as well as games based on its parent company's Gabriel Garza and Hatty franchises.

Gingo Magazine
Gingo Magazine was a print magazine that was launched in 1994. It incorporated informative non-fiction pieces, humour (including pranks and parodical pieces), interviews, recipes, and a comic book section in the center of each issue featuring original comics by leading underground cartoonists as well as strips about popular Gingo and non-Gingo properties.

Gingo Productions
Gingo Productions is the Gingo network's distribution arm. It distributes the shows, pilots, and movies through various international Gingo channels since 1988.

Gingo Branding
Gingo Branding is the studio's global licensing and merchandising arm established in 2003. It distributes merchandise of various Gingo brands such as Gabriel Garza and Niz Chicoloco, and more.

Video games
Since 2002, Gingo characters were featured in a four-player mascot brawler fighting game series similar to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. video game series called Fighting Royale. Several video games based on the cartoon series The Pandemoniums were released by Gingo as well. The Gingo website also features various flash games incorporating characters from various Gingo series.

Theme park areas
All except three Gingo-themed theme park areas now closed:

Current attractions

 * Gingo opened in August 2016 at IMG Worlds of Adventure as one of the four "epic zones". This zone contains the world's largest Gingo-themed store.
 * Gingo's Land of Animation is a themed area at the Universal Studios Florida theme park in Orlando, Florida. It is based on the works of Gingo, including Gabriel Garza. The land consists of 13 acres (4.9 ha) and features a different attraction line-up. Construction on the land began on March 14, 2016, and officially opened on July 6, 2018.

Closed areas

 * Gingo Palace was a short-lived area at Dreamworld in Australia. It was closed later on and was rebranded as Nickelodeon Central, which was also rethemed it to the generic Kid's World theme (it was later revealed that the park had struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation).
 * Gingoland was an area inside Busch Gardens Williamsburg that was opened on September 14, 2002. In 2008, Busch Gardens Williamsburg closed Gingoland to make way for Sesame Street Forest of Fun.

Hotel brands
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Cruises
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International channels
On June 23, 1994, Multimedia launched the first international Gingo channel in the United Kingdom. It broadcast for 15 hours a day.

On September 5, 2003, Astral Media launched a Canadian version of Gingo under a brand licensing agreement with Universal Studios; the channel operated as a multiplex channel of Teletoon, which had long maintained a programming distribution agreement with Gingo for the domestic rights to the U.S. channel's series.

Slogans

 * "A Perfect Place for Animation" (1988–2001)
 * "It's Always on the Gingo" (2001–2005)
 * "Enjoy the Gingo" (2005–present)

Gallery
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