Longform ads replace kid fare on Fox

In an unprecedented move, Fox will program two hours of longform commercials on Saturday mornings starting in January. That's believed to be the first time a major network has slated full-blown, program-length advertisements on its schedule. Long term, the net hopes to seal deals with major marketers to create more traditional-looking programming that weaves in advertising messages. Move follows an out-of-court legal settlement with children's TV producer 4Kids, which had been programming Fox's Saturday morning kids block under a time-buy agreement. Under the settlement, Fox and 4Kids are terminating their deal early, at the end of December; 4Kids continues to buy time on the CW, where it programs that network's Saturday morning slate as well. Fox Affiliates Associates board of governors chairman Brian Jones said he supported the network's decision to program the infomercials -- but added he believed the move was a "short-term type of answer." Jones said he did appreciate the return of two hours on Saturday morning. Stations have been looking for more flexibility to broadcast their government-mandated weekly three hours of educational/ informational programming. Because the 4Kids block only programmed 30 minutes of educational fare, affiliates had to squeeze the other 2½ hours in during the week. "A lot of us are wanting to expand our morning news presence during the week," Jones said. "This allows us to move that E/I programming to the weekend to facilitate more local news."