Saturday Morning Cartoon - Decline

Decline

The decline of the timeslot began in the late 1980s for a variety of reasons, including:

• The rise of first run syndication animated programs, which usually had a greater artistic freedom and looser standards (not mandated by a network), such as G.I. Joe, Transformers, ThunderCats and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
• Increasing regulation of children's programming content, including educational requirements and advertising restrictions, which limited the creative options for such shows.
• Network affiliate chains such as Hearst Television and Sinclair Broadcasting Group refused to air programming which was not compliant with E/I rules such as the Power Rangers franchise, or preferred to air programming from another supplier such as Cookie Jar Group due to heavy repetition of children's programming on network blocks.
• An overreliance on common tropes, which, although it has been common since the early days of animation, became more pronounced by the 1980s; many of the longstanding Saturday morning franchises that had aired since the 1960s were beginning to age and decline in popularity.
• The rise of cable TV channels like Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network which provided appealing animated entertainment throughout the week at nearly all hours, making Saturday morning timeslots far less important to viewers and advertisers. Cable channels also have the additional advantage of being beyond FCC content regulations, meaning they do not have to abide by educational or advertising regulations. Currently, there are at least ten channels specializing in kids programming. This development notwithstanding, cable networks directed at children have used the Saturday morning time slot as its version of prime time for its animated series; Cartoon Network (with "DC Nation"), YTV (with Vortex), Nickelodeon (with "Gotta See Saturdays") and Disney Channel (with "Toonin' Saturdays") have emphasized their Saturday morning cartoon programming.
• The profitability of paid programming on Saturday mornings for television stations was much more than that of children's programming. Due to child-centered attractions and businesses becoming national chains, as well as their vulnerability as seasonal attractions tied to short-lived fads, children's programming on Saturday mornings brought in limited advertising income. Most commercial breaks were also devoted to fulfilling the station's public service announcement requirements for the week because of the limited advertising income.
• The increased availability of VHS tapes (and later DVDs), which allowed children to watch cartoons at any time.
• Increased awareness of childhood obesity and lethargy; advocates often targeted Saturday morning cartoons as culprits.
• The proliferation of the commercial toy or toyline-oriented animated program in the 1980s also led to advocacy group backlash and a decline in such programming. Many of these programs implemented public service messages at their conclusion to address these criticisms.
• The increased popularity of video game consoles and, by the late 1990s, the World Wide Web.
• The rise of college football on television, which had until a 1984 Supreme Court anti-trust decision been limited by the NCAA to between one and four games per week, none of which aired in the Saturday morning timeslot. After the decision, the number of games and game-related programming exploded to become the highlight programming of Saturdays. Through the years, however, broadcast networks have chosen to start football games within Saturday morning as a live broadcast, forcing Saturday morning programming in the western part of the nation to be carried in other timeslots.
• Many of the same networks that often showed Saturday morning cartoons began airing similar programs during weekday afternoons, usually when most children were out of school already. This practice has been discontinued in recent years, but it was common throughout the 1990s.
• An increase in children's participation in Saturday activities outside the home.
• The success of live action Saturday morning programming for kids and teens (such as NBC's Saved by the Bell) which led to the development of more live action shows and teen programming, squeezing out cartoons. For more details on this topic, see TNBC.
• The gradual loss of most of the American companies which were at one time, iconic and prolific producers of inexpensive children's television shows. Examples of companies that have either folded or been subsumed into larger companies include Filmation (folded in 1989), Hanna-Barbera (still active on paper, although its operations were absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation over the course of the 1990s), Sunbow Productions (folded in 1998), DIC Entertainment (now Cookie Jar Group), Disney Television Animation (now Walt Disney Animation Studios), Saban Entertainment (now Saban Brands), Marvel Productions (now owned by The Walt Disney Company), and Rankin/Bass (folded in 1987). Other noted producers such as Sid and Marty Krofft and Ruby-Spears, while not officially defunct, are much less active in recent years due to their advanced age.
• Beginning in the late 1990s, the offshoring of animation production to other countries. Currently, one of the leading producers of Saturday morning cartoon programming is Canada's Nelvana, a division of Corus Entertainment. The earlier popularity of imported Japanese animation such as Robotech also contributed to this.
• Beginning in the late 2000s, decisions by breakfast cereal companies and fast food restaurants to reduce their advertising to children. Breakfast cereals were major advertised products during Saturday morning cartoon programming blocks; however, nutrition advocacy groups criticized the companies for advertising cereals with high sugar content and low nutritional value, leading groups such as Kellogg's and Quaker Oats to scale back their advertising to children. Similar pressures on fast food restaurants' high-calorie meals (along with the denouement of the Burger Wars) led advertisers such as McDonald's and Burger King to scale back their advertising toward children.