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DreamWorks Channel

International children's television channel

DreamWorks Channel, commonly known as DreamWorks, is a pay television network owned and operated by the international networks division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. First launched in Southeast Asia on 1 August 2015, it expanded to the rest of Asia as well as Europe, Africa and Oceania. Its programming is mainly sourced from DreamWorks Animation.

In the United States, DreamWorks Animation's shows were instead aired on Universal Kids, which launched on 9 September 2017 as a rebranding of Sprout before shutting down on 6 March 2025, with the streaming rights to DreamWorks Animation's programming in the country provided by NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock in the United States as well as on Netflix internationally.

01History

As a standalone television channel

DreamWorks Animation announced plans to launch its own television channel on 9 December 2014 starting in Asia, with plans to launch in over 19 countries starting in the second half of 2015. Singapore-based broadcaster HBO Asia provided marketing, sales and technical services for the channel in Southeast Asia. The studio's first foray into television channel operations in any part of the world was represented with the launch of its first dedicated channel on 1 August 2015 in Thailand through a joint venture through with CTH.

A Middle East and North Africa feed of the channel launched on 1 August 2016 in partnership with the beIN Channels Network.

The channel was placed under now-former NBCU International executive vice president of their children's and lifestyle programming, Duccio Donati, in August 2017, following the NBCU's owner Comcast's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. This paired the channel with E! international channels and NBCU Lifestyle Channel content. On 1 January 2018, NBCUniversal International Networks replaced HBO Asia's role with DreamWorks Channel in Southeast Asia.

The channel launched on KPN in the Netherlands on 23 July 2019.

The channel launched as a one-month pop-up channel in Australia through Foxtel on channel 700 throughout June 2020 and returned as a regular 24/7 network the following year.

The Sub-Saharan African feed of the channel originally launched on StarTimes on 3 August 2020, but closed on 17 February 2022 and was replaced by Nickelodeon on StarTimes ON in July 2022. MultiChoice and NBCUIN jointly announced on 8 March 2022 that the channel would launch on DStv a week later on 18 March. On its launch, the channel broadcast on the channel number slot previously held by Disney XD which was shut down on 1 October 2020 and supplement eToonz alongside PBS Kids. The Sub-Saharan African channel was available on the DStv Compact, DStv Compact Plus and DStv Premium subscription packages in South Africa and on the DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscription packages in the rest of Africa, although the channel was made available on the lower-tiered DStv Family and DStv Access subscription packages until 18 April to promote The Bad Guys. From 27 June to 15 July 2022, the channel was made available on DStv Family alongside Disney Channel to promote Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru. It is currently available on the DStv Compact Plus and DStv Premium packages, with the channel only available on DStv's other packages; DStv Compact, DStv Family and DStv Access, during Christmas and summer time.

The Philippines feed of the channel launched on Cignal on 11 September 2021, with aired productions dubbed in the Filipino language. It was also launched on SkyCable in mid-November that same year, though SkyCable uses its original English feed instead. Like the Sub-Saharan African DStv channel feed, it replaced the country's channel feed of Disney Channel, which shut down on the same date as the Southeast Asian Disney Channel feeds on 1 October. SkyCable removed the channel on 1 September 2024 due to contract expiration.

A Latin American feed launched on 1 April 2022.

The Malaysia feed of the channel launched on Astro on 15 January 2023 initially on Channel 622 (HD) until 31 January 2023. In its first two weeks, the channel broadcast as a free trial period for customers before becoming part of an Astro's children's package starting on 1 February 2023. On the same day, the channel moved to Channel 612 (HD) as a replacement for TA-DAA! which closed on 1 February 2023.

Universal+ launch with DreamWorks

The channel and Universal+ launched in Spain with two television providers Movistar+ and Orange on 21 February 2021.

The Indian feed of the channel was launched in English via Jio TV on 25 November 2021.

DreamWorks Channel's programming are currently available to stream on Universal+ which launched as an on-demand service in South Africa on DStv Catch Up and DStv Stream on 14 October 2022.

The channel was launched along with Universal+ in France on SFR on 17 November 2022 on Prime Video Channels on 6 December 2022 and on Bouygues Telecom on 8 December 2022.

02Programming

The content on the channel mainly consists of productions from the libraries of DreamWorks Animation Television and DreamWorks Classics including some of DreamWorks Animation's content originally produced for Netflix; films and specials from DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and sometimes from third parties only broadcasts in the international versions.

Programming blocks

03Versions

MarketTypeLaunch dateUniversal+ included?source
Thailand (in English) Channel 1 August 2015 No
Thailand (in Thai) 1 September 2015
Malaysia 10 September 2015
Indonesia 2 March 2016
Singapore 3 March 2016
Hong Kong (in English and Cantonese) 1 April 2016
Macau (in English and Cantonese)
South Korea Channel 3 May 2016
SVOD
Middle East & North Africa Channel 1 August 2016
Maldives 2 August 2018
Netherlands 23 July 2019
Vietnam 1 April 2020
Australia (pop-up channel) 1 June 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa (original) 3 August 2020
Spain 22 February 2021 Yes
Hong Kong (in Mandarin) 17 June 2021 No
Macau (in Mandarin)
Australia (24/7 channel) 1 July 2021
Philippines (in Filipino) 11 September 2021
Thailand (TrueVisions relaunch) 1 October 2021
Philippines (in English) 15 November 2021
India 25 November 2021 Yes
Sub-Saharan Africa (relaunch) 18 March 2022
Latin America 1 April 2022
France 21 November 2022
Watch videos about DreamWorks ChannelExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article DreamWorks Channel, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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