Why Bionix died

NOTE: The following is solely speculation, I don't have any secret informant, and have only deduced this theory by using public information (press releases, conference calls, etc.). Don't use the following as gospel to tell the world why Bionix died, it's all speculation.

In my opinion, Bionix died mostly due to an initiative Corus had been working on for years, the co-viewing strategy of getting parents to watch shows with their children. They've been working at this since before Bionix even existed, but have only recently put the plan into full force. The idea is acquiring, or creating content that families would enjoy watching together, allowing the network to have more eyes on the screen, as well as a wider audience scope to allow advertisers outside of toy companies, video games, etc. to enter the fold (for example, recently I remember seeing a car commercial on YTV). This alone allows for the network to recieve larger ad revenue.

Now, Bionix is a block dedicated towards the older youth audience, and this audience tends to not hang out with their parents. As well, the programming in the block itself had a very narrow audience, and the programs within it wouldn't necessairly attract families. Clearly a conflict of interests. Initially the block was such a strong performer ratings-wise that it was immune to the co-viewing strategy despite the fact the rest of the week had become the home of syndicated sitcoms, and movies. However, it seems ratings started to slide (of which the only one at fault is YTV themselves for allowing the block to grow stagnant with repeats, and a lack of advertising) and so the beginning of Bionix's end was taking place. Corus likely launched the companion Saturday night Bionix block to test how the block would perform outside of Fridays. Everyone thought that the companion block was going to be a good thing, more room for more shows. But it seems that was the opposite case.

Following the brief summer test run of Bionix Saturdays a change in the head of programming at Corus' kids division occured. That's when the weekday lineup started to consist entirely of Nickelodeon shows, as well as syndicated sitcoms. That's also when The Next Star, a low rent Idol knockoff aimed at preteens, and Family Biz, an even lower rent sitcom was greenlit. These two shows would eventually spearhead the "Big Fun Fridays" block of programming which pushed Bionix to Saturday nights. It only got worse from there as the programming for Bionix was reduced, and placed later into the night, and eventually culminated into the creation of "Big Fun Weeknights". Bionix was dead.

What you say has merit but from my understanding of how TV stations and companies work I would say that it was more likely the change in head/management that was the downfall for Bionix since it was clear that after this change occurred is when everyone noticed the clear shift with YTV's programming for a mix of things for everyone youth to aiming at the tween-hannah montana-nick crowd.

I'll add one of my own thoughts is that YTV got lazy because there was no real competition to Bionix. No one else was showing anythign remotely to what they were doing so YTV knew there was little to no chance of them losing that audience to another show or station.

It's a shame Teletoon is essentially YTV junior and that Space dropped the ball of anime. Canada could easily be a different place for anime fans if the right people had the right ideas in the right places.

Well, I do feel YTV was going in this direction for a while now, and conference calls, as well as press releases support this. Remember when they picked up Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Sabrina: The Teenage Witch? However, I do feel that the change in management was what lead to Bionix getting the axe, as before the block was very much the ratings strength hold for the channel that wasn't touched.

I'd say that Bionix died because the way fans got their anime changed. The market changed. Anime fans started watching fansubs and TV worked just too slowly to catch up. By the time the shows did make it to air fans had already seen the episodes a year or more ago. And it didn't help that YTV was often years behind the US broadcasts.

And now that there's streaming it's hard for any station to bring anime back and get people to watch. It also didn't help that Japan produced less material suitable for TV, although I've seen a few things like D.Grey-Man that would have been perfectly suitable for Bionix. But they would only be serving fans who don't watch anime online.

I think the time delay may eventually start affecting regular broadcast shows as well. For instance, Canadian stations often wait before airing US cable shows and that could lead to fans watching the shows online rather than waiting for the shows to air in Canada and making it seem as if fans aren't interested in those shows.

If YTV wanted to revive Bionix they need to focus on old anime shows that finished a long time ago and which fans have practically forgotten about such as the original Gundam series. Sure they could be downloaded but fans might just bother to wait for them on TV. There's just not as much of a rush to watch them.

I actually don't agree with that position. While, yes the advent of fansubs, and the ease of piracy has played a role in the downturn of anime, I do think there's a sizable audience who'd rather wait for an English dub, or would enjoy re-watching a show in English. That's where a near simultaneous broadcast with the US or exclusive broadcasts would be key. It would provide no other alternative to get the English version (assuming DVDs haven't been released yet, or broadcast abroad), where as older series would've received DVD releases, and be potentially on streaming sites (both legally, and not).

That's an interesting idea although I don't know if the older animation would fly with the current generation. I recall when MSG aired in the states many of the younger kids at the time complained about the animation and that they didn't like it. I wouldn't be shocked if the same would be felt via YTV especially given their focus on that younger crowd and not at any other age group.

Part of the problem is also right now there's no real "must see" anime out there. There's nothing that is causing the next wave of fans to flock to it. It's all the same old stuff with other long running series (Naruto, One Piece, etc) going along.

and sadly, seeing what's coming for the next little while it doesn't look like there's much there either.