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# TV for a drooling audience
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/tv-for-a-drooling-audience-2/
- Published: 2007-06-05T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:58:55.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Entertainment, Brentwood, #archive-import

BRENTWOOD Move over Teletubbies and Barney.

When Ebony Hodge first installed a Dish Network satellite system in her Long Beach home more than a year ago, she was rewarded with an added bonus — free subscription to a newly launched network for newborn babies and toddlers.

Having recently given birth to her daughter Blossom, the free two-month trial of BabyFirstTV was a welcome surprise.

After the two-month trial period was over, Hodge decided to sign up for a full subscription, noticing that her daughter had actually improved her communication skills thanks to the children’s programming featured on the channel.

“She went from pointing at things to trying to make phrases,” Hodge said of now 14-month-old Blossom. “She still babbles, but it’s babbling phrases as opposed to ‘eh, eh.’”

The Brentwood-based cable and satellite network is the brain child of Guy Oranim and Sharon Rechter who both sought to create a channel solely dedicated to enhancing a child’s development through programming.

Called “the only TV network in the United States that is catering to babies and toddlers,” BabyFirstTV initially launched Mother’s Day 2006 on Dish Network, DirecTV and in select Comcast markets. The network is considered to be a premium channel, similar to HBO, and is available at an additional cost.

The idea to start a television network came to Rechter one day a few years ago when a friend visited with one baby, two bottles, three diapers and five baby DVDs in tow. Rechter inquired about the DVDs, curious as to why her friend was carrying so many at once.

“They make my child smarter,” her friend said at the time, pointing to a description on the DVD case that claimed watching the video would improve a child’s intelligence.

But the DVD was not backed by a child development expert or any sort of authority in the field, which meant that anyone could’ve produced and marketed the DVD as improving a child’s intelligence, Rechter said.

After discovering that the baby DVD market generates about $1.5 billion a year, Rechter, who formerly headed an ethnic network, and Oranim, who previously worked in DVD advertising, decided to join forces to create a network that offered high quality programming and had the “best of the best people supporting it,” according to Rechter.

There are currently more than 80 different programs airing on BabyFirstTV, the majority of which are original programming. The remainder comes from baby DVDs preapproved by the network’s advisors.

Each program is between 2 and 7 minutes long, catered to its audience as the visual and the audio run slowly to avoid overstimulating the baby. Many of the programs focus on teaching about color, words and numbers and do so repetitively to ingrain the concepts in the child’s head.

“One of the things we say is repetition is good,” said Dr. Arthur Pober, the network’s chief educational advisor.

All of the original programs are derived through a creative team led by Pober. With 20 years of experience in early childhood development and media under his belt, every program is signed off by Pober, who approves the shows in two minute-segments.

“The segments are basically there to provide a soothing and calming experience,” Pober said.

The programming facilitates interaction between the parent and the child through occasional pop up “subtitles” that instruct the parents on how they should explain the segment to their child.

Some of the most popular programs on BabyFirstTV are the ones in which parents say they can see actual improvement in their children. Two of the most popular shows include a Spanish foreign language segment for babies of English speaking parents and a children’s sign language course. Children actually learn to communicate through motioning before speaking, Rechter said.

“All research indicates babies develop best by interacting with their parents,” Rechter said.“Our mission is to give them another way.”

Another popular show retells famous fairy tales through an age-appropriate tone.

The network’s adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty” tells the story of a little girl upset that her father is leaving her to go to work. The little girl falls asleep after a busy day and is awoken by her father’s kiss.

The Disney versions of the fairy tales usually involve evil queens and witches, which can be frightening to a young child, said Pober, who used to work with the Walt Disney company.

BabyFirstTV is now available in 24 countries on four continents.

“We’re very proud, I have to say,” Rechter said. “That’s my baby.”

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*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 5, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)