Report: Discovery to take control of The Hub

Discovery Communications will take control of its joint venture kids channel The Hub by the end of the year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The report suggests Discovery and toy form Hasbro will rework their JV so that the cable giant takes a majority stake and rebrands the channel as Discovery Family.

As the name suggests, the net’s output will move move towards family entertainment, with shows targeted at parents as well as kids.

Hasbro would still control programming for six hours a day, between 9am and 3pm, according to the report, which cites unnamed sources close to the negotiations. Talks are said to be ongoing, but no deal has yet been struck.

Earlier this year, The Hub’s president and CEO Margaret Loesch announced she was exiting the business at the end of 2014, which appears to fit with the time scale for the rebrand.

No successor was announced, and The WSJ reported that Discovery group president for Discovery’s group president of Investigation Discovery, Destination America and the American Heroes Channel Henry Schleiff will add the new channel to its responsibilities.

Discovery and Hasbro launched the channel more than four years ago, but have found going tough with kids TV cable market leaders Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network the clear market leaders.

The Hub’s biggest show is My Little Pony, and also runs series including Transformers, Adventure Camp and Flight 29 Down.

Discovery is also rebadging Discovery Fit & Health as Discovery Life Channel in January next year.