Dojo Network

Dojo Network (mostly named Dojo) is an American pay television channel spun off from SBC's 1999 programming block of the same name. Owned by SumarWrapper International Media. Thru it's kids and family division, the channel launched on October 10, 2000, and primarily targets all ages. Its lineup features a mix of originally-produced programming, along with series from the SBC's weekday block.

Dojo Network and the Dojo. block are both currently running. The latter airs weekdays on SBC from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET (those hours vary during the summer months, other school break periods and on major national holidays), having traditional commercial breaks for certain programs. As of September 2023, Dojo Network is available to approximately 70.310 million pay television households in the United States.

Development
On April 30, 1998, multimedia company SumarWrapper announced to launch a new service as a new family-oriented SBC block, paying $300 million for 30% ownership of the network. Under the arrangement, The Sumar Team would be in charge of handling advertising sales and distribution for the new service, while The Wrapper Team would be involved in acquiring and producing programming.

In July 1998, the network appointed veteran television executive Margaret Loesch as its chief executive officer; prior to this, Loesch had led Fox Kids, and served as president and CEO of Marvel Productions from 1984 to 1990, assisting in the production of several Dojo shows

In January 1999, Sumar and WrapperMedia announced that the new network would be known as Dojo; this was soon followed two months later with the announcement that a 24/7 network for the block would launch on October 10, 2000. The network's original imaging was developed by Troika Design Group and built around an emblem nicknamed the "studio" – which was designed to embody a "catalyst of action and imagination". The final logo design was the result of a number of drafts by Troika designers, some of which had incorporated typography similar to SumarWrapper's logo.

Goals
The launched channel, which would compete against established children services such as MNB Kids a huge kids television network at the time, planned to continue target children aged 2–12 (a market which the staff felt was being abandoned by its competitors in favor of tweens)

Commercial Programming
The Children Television Act (CTA) in the United States limits the commercial time during children's programming, and prohibits television broadcasters from airing advertisements for products associated with a program during or in timeslots adjacent to the show itself. During time slots that targeted it's teenage audiences (aired during a block branded as "DojoMagic"), Dojo was to broadcast six minutes of advertisements per hour, below 12 minutes per hour on weekdays, and 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends as mandated by the CTA. Additionally, it was planning to broadcast 10.5 minutes of advertisements per hour the rest of the day throughout the week. The channel was planning to sell its advertising inventories to toy companies other than Hasbro; as reported by Advertising Age in May 2000, Dojo was even in talks with Mattel, the channel, however, also planned to restrict certain categories of advertisements, including junk foods and "advertisers in the sugar category".

There have been reported concerns that the channel would be exploited by SumarWrapper as a platform to plug its products. Ahead of the channel's launch as Dojo, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) called the whole project an "infomercial", and stated that they would be monitoring the channel. CCFC founder Susan Linn said "It will make a mockery of existing ad limits and the current prohibition of product placement in children's television" at the April 1998 announcement of the of the network. Loesch stated that The Network's goal was to be "vibrant" and "diverse" in its programming, and that the channel would not purely be a marketing vehicle for products.

Launch And Later Years
In a June 2001 debt filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SumarWrapper indicated that the channel may be worth less than recently believed, based on low viewership figures. The management of Dojo subsequently underwent a fair value analysis of the channel. A SumarWrapper spokesperson considered the action to be "a pro-forma accounting exercise", and noted that SumarWrapper felt "very positive and encouraged by The Network's early days' performance, and ability to grow its audience in the future."

In March 2002, Dojo picked up Mighty Fist, an animated pilot film that aired on February 1, 2003. On September 5, 2002, Dojo. rebranded and introduced Camera, an animated mascot that introduced shows and interstitials and led into commercial breaks. In the context of his segments, Camera was capable of materializing objects such as an astronaut, a robot, a clown, a window, a traffic light, stars, and even wood. He was also capable of creating a number of foley sound effects and voices including an iconic signature three-note trumpet noise usually following the name "Dojo." at the end of almost every bumper. Also, he changed colors, moods, and feelings. Camera was voiced by Chris Phillips, who also narrated several Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. promos. The original Camera promos were produced by Dojo Digital (from 2002 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2009; the later promos featured a redesigned Camera) and DMA Animation (from 2006 to 2010). On October 24, Dojo. premiered two new original series, Banana Island and Alley's Window, resulting in 50% rating gains for the Network.

On September 1, 2003, Dojo. received a rebrand that introduced more than a dozen new logos; A new program called Ninja Bunnie's premiered the next day. A new interstitial series called Dojo''. Play Along'' was introduced, hosted by two fun live-action mascots: Robin (played by actress Hillary Hawkins) and Zack (played by actor Travis Guba). Along with Robin and Zack were two sock puppets called the Handbeats. Camera was given a brand new look which added eyebrows and some new eyes by inverting their colors from white dots on black eyes to actual-looking eyes.

Dojo removed the Play Along interstitials aside from a re-edited opening in February 2004.

On October 11, 2004, Dojo. received another rebrand containing interstitials co-produced by Little Airplane Productions featuring the block's new mascot Robot Possum (voiced by Ali Brustofski and created by Josh Selig), and the new slogan "Love to Play!". Nick Jr.'s female announcer was replaced with Kobie Powell and Chris Phillips. Dojo. used its new on-screen bug to promote its website until March 6, 2006, when the FCC forbaded that. Salad Fingers, The Flower, and Backyard Adventures (the latter of which premiering alongside the rebrand) premiered on The Network in 2004.

On September 7, 2007, the Robot Possum interstitials ended their almost 3-year run.

On September 10, 2007, Peanut Butter Network. received yet another rebrand. A new slogan, Play with Us!, was included. Peanut Butter Network.'s bumpers encouraged viewers to play along and featured the logo in the form of two stop-motion stuffed animals. This marks the first time that the network had no mascot since 2002.

On January 30, 2009, the stuffed animals logo ended its 2-year run with Chloe's Magical Friendships being the last show to use it. That same day, the Play with Us! interstitials ended their almost 2-year run.

When the DojoMagic block debuted on September 28, 2009, at 6:00 a.m. ET, the use of an Ninja "adult" and the Agent "child" figure (not mascots) was discontinued, On March 1, 2010, the Dojo channel received a new rebrand produced by Trokia. Jessica DiCicco and Cam Brainard became the network's announcer, The channel's slogan changed from "The Next Genaration Of TV" to "Infinite Possibility's" (which was also used as the branding for the Dojo. block), while several shows were pulled from the lineup; most of them would return later that year, while the former could still be seen on the channel's website at the time.

At this point, programming began to be hosted by characters from Dojo Network. shows. The channel also began incorporating programming promotions and short features on that date; seven months later, on October 1, 2010, it started airing limited traditional advertising (for companies such as ABCMouse, Kmart, Chuck E. Cheese's, Nabi, Clorox, Walmart, Lysol and Playskool) in the form of underwriter sponsorships airing in-between shows, whereas its parent network airs longer traditional advertising.

On May 21, 2015, the channel refreshed their imaging with new interstitial pieces and updated up next notices, and now being branded as "You Play In Your World Play In Ours"