NBCUniversal is rebranding its children’s cable channel effective Sept. 9. Formerly known as Sprout and renamed Universal Kids, the channel aims for a greater investment in original programming for the 2-year-old to 12-year-old demographic, said Deirdre Brennan, general manager of Universal Kids. “The good news for families is that we can now build on that established connection with the youngest of children, offering content that can widen eyes and open minds as they grow,” Brennan said in an email to the Business Journal. Brennan is based out of the network’s New York headquarters but Universal Kids has a presence in Universal City with a production and development team. The network recently completed production on the West Coast for its show “Top Chef Jr.,” done with production company Magical Elves Inc., in Los Angeles, Brennan said. Sprout was founded in 2005 by Comcast Corp., PBS, Sesame Workshop and HIT Television Ventures, a company controlled by Apax Funds. NBCUniversal became involved with the cable network following its acquisition by Comcast and in 2013 bought out the other partners and made Sprout part of its Cable Entertainment Group. Under the rebranding, the channel will air 15 hours of preschool programming daily from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. and programs for older children and families after 6 p.m. through prime-time hours. The channel is available in 59 million homes. As with all potential audiences these days, children have a lot of entertainment options and the days of advertisers grabbing eyeballs during Saturday morning cartoons are over. The company hopes Universal Kids will become a portal to keep the children’s demographic and grow them into future audiences for other NBCUniversal shows. “This is a natural next step for our network – creating and providing content for families,” Brennan said in her email. “We believe that our content mix of kids’ unscripted, international proven hits and animated content from DreamWorks Animation Television will resonate with kids and families.” Comcast acquired DreamWorks Animation last year and two of its shows, “All Hail King Julien” and “DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk,” based on the film franchise “How to Train Your Dragon,” will be launched with the name change on Sept. 9. Other shows on the schedule are “Kody Kapow,” top-rated series “Floogals,” “Nina’s World” and “Noddy Toyland Detective.” International shows include “Little Lunch,” a comedy series, and “Nowhere Boys,” a fantasy-adventure show. Universal Kids will also premiere “Hank Zipzer,” based on novels written by actor Henry Winkler, that focus on the misadventures of Hank, a 12-year-old dyslexic boy. It is produced by DHX Media Ltd., in Halifax, Nova Scotia. –Mark R. Madler