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KidsCo confirms CEO exit

International children’s channel KidsCo has confirmed the exit of global CEO and co-founder Paul Robinson, as revealed by C21 last week.

C21 reported on Thursday that Robinson had left the company two weeks ago, with KidsCo co-owner NBCUniversal (NBCU) International moving to place one of its senior business development execs, Hendrik McDermott, as interim MD.

KidsCo later released a statement saying former Disney Channels UK MD Robinson remained in its employment, while NBCU refused to comment.

Today, KidsCo’s parents – NBCU, Corus Entertainment and Cookie Jar Entertainment – released a statement verifying Robinson’s departure, however, saying he had decided to leave to “pursue other professional opportunities.”

“We thank Paul for his insightful, entrepreneurial and dynamic leadership in building KidsCo into the global children’s channel it is today and wish him every success, having completed his task, as he moves on to pursue new challenges,” said KidsCo chairman Doug Murphy.

A source close to the company last week told C21 Robinson’s departure was a precursor to a major change in the channel’s ownership.

NBCU is understood to be seeking to boost its children’s channels portfolio, and is already eyeing Hit Entertainment’s stake in US cablenet PBS Sprout, as reported by C21 earlier this year.

What this means for KidsCo’s future is unclear but today its parents said they were “committed to the children’s television business and see a very bright future for children’s TV internationally.” However, they did concede they were “considering all options concerning the channel’s next phase.”

Question marks also remain over an unspecified minority stake Robinson reportedly holds in KidsCo. He couldn’t be reached this morning before press time for comment and a KidsCo spokesman was unable to clarify.

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