Little Royal Academy

Little Royal Academy is a daily American preschool-oriented programming block that airs on free-to-air children's network Red Princess. Its main demographic is children ages 18 months to 5. It airs from 9 to 2 on Weekdays (when Red Princess's main demographic are usually at school) as well as Weekends (and weekdays from the Tuesday after Memorial Day until Labor Day) from 8 to 11. The block originally launched to provide the 3 hours of E/I programming required for digital subchannels until Knight University took its place. The block's mascot is a baby pink worm named Prince Wormworm. IT also has a syndicated block called Rainbow Daycare that airs on various CW and MyNetworkTV stations. Ironically enough, while the block is ment to compete with Nick jr, Disney Junior and Cartoonito, the block is ment as a companion to Gingo Junior.

Origins
Little Royal Academy's origins begun on February 15, 2018. When Jonathan Katz, the founder of the network wanted to have a block for a younger audience than Red Princess and the other Katz Networks. This is because Red Princess's ratings, especially during the late morning hours, got most of its ratings from children under 6. The Katz networks have also seen the success of Gingo's Gingo Junior and Nickelodeon's Nick Jr programming blocks.

So on March 1, 2018, E.W. Scripps, the owner of Katz Networks, announced that Red Princess would launch a preschool-oriented block sometime in the spring. The launch shows confirmed for the block were Jim Henson's Word Party, 9 Story's Jerry and the Raiders, Splash Entertainment's ToddWorld, and Porchlight Entertainment's Green's Clubhouse, which was made for the block.

On April 23, 2018, Little Royal Academy was launched and was met with success. The block also got favor from the FCC for being the only programming block that utilizes e/i without live-action shows. The block also got praise from parents as well for airing over the weekend as well. Making it the first preschool-oriented OTA weekend programming block since the closure of NBC Kids in 2016. The block also got praise from adults as well for most of the network's lineup being shows that used to air on other networks. Meaning they would get a "blast of the past" from the block too.

On April 5, 2021, the block got a TV network based on the Little Royal Academy model named Rainbow Funhouse.

On March 23, 2021, Little Royal Academy announced that they would enter a deal with Comcast to allow a Gingo Junior block in the near future. It's unknown when the block will launch.

Programming
Little Royal Academy primarly airs live-action and animated including original series as well as syndicated shows from the Nelvana, WildBrain, Splash Entertainment, Scholastic, and NBCUniversal libraries. The block is also known to air syndicated repeats from PBS Kids and Gingo Junior as well. Rare, the block also airs movies as well. Stella and Sam is also the only Little Royal Academy show that's also syndicated to Red Princess as well.