Magic Kids was a well known Argentinecable channel which aired cartoons, anime and, live shows aimed at kid and young teen. The channel was founded on January 12, 1995 and defunct on May 24, 2006, because of financial issues. Widely regarded as one of the harbingers of a renewed interest for Japanese animation in Latin America during the 1990's, at its height the network had a variety of merchandise including, a brand of soft drinks, toys and, the monthly Magic Kids Magazine Originally conceived a "The Big Channel", the idea was to create a channel aimed at very young kids as way to market Pramer's toy-lines. The channel was later re-branded as Magic Kids. At first it survived thanks by airing American series such as Power Rangers, X-Men and Spider-Man but later on shifted to Japanese anime, as it was cheaper to license and would differentiate them from other American channels like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. As the network grew it also started creating some original content, starting with the interactive game show A Jugar con Hugo, which premiered the year after the debut of the channel and stayed on practically until it was shut down. Afterwards cameNivel X,a weekly show base around video-game culture, hosted by Lionel Campoy and Natalia Dim and El Club del Ánime, hosted at first by Leandro Oberto and later on by Mariela Carril. At first he channel was only available in Argentina but soon the channel started expanding to other countries. In Chile regional cable operators like TV Cable Intercom', started broadcasting the channel in 1995. However the push to expand was hasty and Magic Kids failed to secure the rights to it most popular series outside Argentina. Most of its roaster was replaced with much older less popular series that were more affordable. In addition to 2001 Argentine crisis, it all but stopped broadcasting Japanese series and lost it's edge over its competitors. Magic Kids began to lose steam and in early 2006 it ceased to produce its own series. In May, the signal finally went off the air.
