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 4 to 9-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
 * ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks
 * Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures
 * Big Top Academy
 * Counterfeit Cat
 * Cupcake & Dino: General Services
 * Dragon Ball Super
 * Grizzy and the Lemmings
 * Hanazuki: Full of Treasures
 * Hero Elementary shares on Knowledge
 * Lego City Adventures
 * Lego Friends
 * Mega Man: Fully Charged
 * Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
 * Pokemon Sun and Moon
 * Power Rangers Beast Morphers
 * Sadie Sparks
 * Space Chickens In Space
 * Sonic Boom
 * Talking Tom & Friends
 * Strange Chores
 * Total DramaRama
 * Trollhunters
 * Pokemon Journeys
 * Bakugan: Armored Alliance

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
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.