Biz Kid$: Credit Union-Sponsored TV Series Airing Nationally on PBS |
Credit Unions Recognized on the Air |  Every Biz Kid$ episode begins and ends with a narrator reminding viewers that:
“Production funding for Biz Kid$ is provided by America’s Credit Unions, where people are worth more than money.” |
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|  Making television history, PBS stations serving 49 states and the District of Columbia are broadcasting the Biz Kid$ TV series exclusively underwritten by America’s Credit Unions to teach kids about money. It's the first national television series ever sponsored by credit unions.
More than 118 million American households -- including more than 230 million people over the age of two -- have access to the 26-episode series on over 311 PBS stations.
According to Biz Kid$ Producer Jamie Hammond, the show is now the highest carried program on American Public Television and exceeds all their other children's programs in carriage by more than 20%.
Biz Kid$ is airing in 47 of the nation’s top 50 public television markets, including the top three: |
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- Los Angeles,
- New York City,
- and Chicago.
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| | Biz Kid$ can now be seen in 49 states. In fact, PBS networks have contracted to broadcast Biz Kid$ on every station in these 15 states: |
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- Alabama,
- Alaska,
- Colorado,
- Indiana,
- Kentucky,
- Montana,
- Nebraska,
- New Hampshire,
- New Jersey,
- New York,
- North Carolina,
- North Dakota,
- Rhode Island,
- South Dakota,
- and Vermont.
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| | Biz Kid$ is also airing on PBS stations covering many major cities, such as: |
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- Atlanta, Georgia;
- Austin, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas;
- Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana;
- Boston, Massachusetts;
- Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis, Tenn.;
- Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio;
- Columbia, South Carolina;
- Daytona, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Tampa, and Palm Beach, Florida;
- Denver, Colorado;
- Detroit and East Lansing, Michigan;
- Durham, New Hampshire
- Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
- Hartford, Connecticut;
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Jackson, Mississippi;
- Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri;
- Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada;
- Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin;
- Minneapolis, Minnesota;
- Oklahoma City;
- Salt Lake City, Utah;
- Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, California;
- Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma, Washington;
- Tempe, Arizona;
- Topeka and Wichita, Kansas;
- Trenton, New Jersey;
- and Washington, DC... to name just a few.
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 | | | Click here to see a Biz Kid$ epsiode on Detroit Public TV. The episode begins with a local underwriting spot from DFCU Financial Federal Credit Union in Dearborn, Michigan. The local credit union spot is followed by the America's Credit Unions spot that will be seen before and after every episode in every market where Biz Kid$ is being broadcast. |
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| In rural areas, Biz Kid$ can be seen on many regional PBS networks, such as Blue Ridge PBS, which covers significant areas in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
“The number of PBS stations committing to carry Biz Kid$ is growing daily,” reports RoxAnne Kruger, Biz Kid$ Project Manager at the Washington Credit Union Foundation. “Many other cities in 49 states are already on the list, representing a diverse geographic balance of coverage across the country in big market areas.”
The committed PBS stations represent over 90% of America's PBS stations.
Biz Kid$ is also airing on all 100 High Definition (HD) Channel PBS stations on Sundays at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. This means all PBS stations that have HD channels air Biz Kid$ at the same designated day in a consistent time slot across America.
Biz Kid$ is also airing in the United Kingdom and Ireland on a national business channel.
Produced in high definition by the Emmy Award-winning creators of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Biz Kid$ is a fun, fast-paced series designed to entertain, engage, and elevate kids’ knowledge about money.
The vision is for Biz Kid$ to do for financial education what Bill Nye did for science. For comparison, Bill Nye the Science Guy initially launched on 40 PBS stations. |
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| Check Your Local Listings | | Here's a new resource to target where Biz Kid$ will air in the next two weeks:
Click www.bizkids.com. You'll see a small box at the top of the page under the logo. Simply type in a zip code and click Submit. Then the system will show you the local PBS station's Biz Kid$ schedule for the next two weeks.
If no results pop up, this means the local PBS station is between seasons of Biz Kid$. You can check back in a couple of weeks for an update. |
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Funding Biz Kid$ through Credit Unions |  The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) is the largest funder of the America’s Credit Unions underwriting group. NCUF committed $2 million to Biz Kids over three years from a special sub-fund of its Community Investment Fund (CIF).
“The National Credit Union Foundation is proud to be Biz Kid$’ largest sponsor,” affirmed NCUF Executive Director Steve Delfin. “This TV series, together with the teaching curriculum being produced, will fulfill a key part of our mission: to bring financial education and literacy to our nation’s youth. Biz Kid$ has the potential to be the most visible youth financial literacy program our nation has ever seen.” |
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| Additional Funding Needed for Second Season | | The first 13 episodes of Biz Kid$ are paid for. “National underwriting dollars are needed now to pay for the second 13 episodes delivered to PBS stations,” explains Kruger. “We are asking credit union supporters to please consider a contribution to Biz Kid$ in 2008 to help cover the television production, website and curriculum development costs.”
To keep Biz Kid$ on the air with credit unions’ funding, supporters can contact their state credit union league to receive wire transfer information, or a fill out the pledge form here.
“When you fulfill your pledge to Biz Kid$, you will become a part of television history,” concludes Delfin. “You will join the underwriting team supporting the first national TV series ever funded by credit unions.” |
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Credit Unions Can Teach Biz Kid$ | Companion materials and other resources for teachers and parents are available at no cost on the Biz Kid$ website, www.bizkids.com. The site also features clips from the series and invites kids to appear on the show.
Website visitors can now sign up for the Biz Kid$ monthly newsletter, The Vault. The e-mailed newsletter offers ideas on how kids can start their own businesses, earn money, and make their money grow. |
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 “We profile real kids running real businesses, from big companies with product lines to small businesses like dog-walking,” says Biz Kid$ Executive Producer Jamie Hammond. “The series also shows kids who are running businesses to advance social causes and give back to their communities. This humanizes the financial literacy aspect of the production and shows kids the range of possibilities available to anyone who wants to become a 'biz kid'.” |
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| Biz Kid$ Video Promo | | Watch the three-minute video highlights package:
Each full 30-minute episode of Biz Kid$ may be seen online after it airs on PBS.
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| About Biz Kid$ | | | Produced in high definition by the Emmy Award-winning creators of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Biz Kid$ is a fun, fast-paced series designed to entertain, engage, and elevate kids’ knowledge about money. The vision is for Biz Kid$ to do for financial education what Bill Nye did for science. Every Biz Kid$ episode will begin and end with a narrator reminding viewers that “Production funding for Biz Kid$ is provided by America’s Credit Unions, where people are worth more than money.” Biz Kid$ is produced in association with WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester, New York. It is distributed by American Public Television. Major funding for Biz Kid$ is provided by a coalition of America’s Credit Unions, led by the National Credit Union Foundation and the Washington Credit Union Foundation. |
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| About Biz Kid$ LLP | | | The Biz Kid$ team is best known for creating and producing Bill Nye the Science Guy. The series received multiple awards – 26 national Emmys (including two for Outstanding Children’s Television Series) – and in 1999 received the National Science Board Public Service Award, among others. Over the past decade, the producers have also created over 275 episodes for PBS in the areas of How-To and Natural History. The team’s experience includes working with Danny Thomas, Bob Hope, David Letterman, Willie Nelson, Gary Coleman, and many others on projects for NBC, CBS, ABC, The Food Network, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft, National Geographic, and President Bill Clinton. Other awards include two Gold Medals from the New York Festivals, the first Annenberg Foundation Award, two Monitor Awards, and two Environmental Media Awards. |
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About the Washington Credit Union Foundation |  The Washington Credit Union Foundation (WCUF) is a 501(c)3 philanthropic organization affiliated with the Washington Credit Union League. The WCUF engages in several endeavors, including consumer financial education, community outreach grants, small credit union development grants, scholarships, and disaster relief grants. |
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About the National Credit Union Foundation |  The National Credit Union Foundation is the U.S. credit union movement’s primary national charity and fundraiser. In 26 years, NCUF has provided more than $26 million in grants supporting its mission to promote consumers’ financial independence through credit unions. NCUF continues to earn the Better Business Bureau seal of approval as an “Accredited Charity” by meeting all 20 of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance Standards for national charities. |
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