Pakapaka

Pakapaka was the children's programming block on the educational channel Encuentro, and later became the country's first public and educational children's channel. As an educational channel, it belonged to the Ministry of Education of the Argentine Republic. It was launched by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as part of the then-current communications policy—which also included the creation of other educational channels such as TEC TV—and in compliance with the media law that required a portion of programming to be geared towards children.^[4] pakapaka era la franja infantil en el canal educativo Encuentro, y luego se convirtió en el primer canal infantil público y educativo del país. En cuanto señal educativa, pertenecía al Ministerio de Educación de la República Argentina. Fue lanzado por la presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner como parte de la por entonces política en materia de comunicación —que también incluía la creación de otros canales educativos como TEC TV— y como cumplimiento de la ley de medios que exigía una porción de la programación esté orientada a los niños.^[5][6]

Its first test broadcast was on September 9, 2010, and from September 17, 2010, via Open Digital Television, available free of charge to all cable operators ^[7]

In 2011, it was included in the DirecTV lineup from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.^[8]

Starting in January 2014, Pakapaka was included in Cablevisión's basic package lineup, following repeated requests for the application of Article 65 of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law, which stipulated that pay-TV providers must include all public broadcasters and channels of the national government, as well as all those in which the government has a stake, in their lineup. This increased the channel's reach to over 3 million subscribers.^[9]

In February 2015, DirecTV added Pakapaka to its 24-hour channel lineup, along with other state-run channels such as INCAA TV and DeporTV (Argentina). This followed approximately eighty complaints filed by its own viewers with the Ombudsman's Office. According to an official statement from the Ombudsman's Office, fifty of the eighty complaints were related to the inclusion of Pakapaka.^[10]

One year after Mauricio Macri won the presidency, in November 2016, the channel's aesthetics were changed, including its logo and slogan.^[11] On December 7 of that year, decree 1222/16 was enacted, incorporating Pakapaka, along with the Encuentro, DeporTV, Acua Mayor and Acua Federal channels, as well as the Argentine Universal Audiovisual Content Bank (Bacua) into the Federal System of Public Media and Content,^[12] creating the state-owned company "Contenidos Públicos S.E." with the purpose of carrying out the management, operation, development and exploitation of these signals and any others that replace them or are created within the System.^[13]

In 2018, the channel was excluded from the basic package of Cablevisión to the cable operator's digital package, which generated controversy and rejection from subscribers..^[14]

In 2020, in the context of the suspension of in-person classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, an agreement was reached between Flow (Argentina) and the Federal System of Public Media and Content to return the channel to the lineup.^[15]

The channel transmits 24 hours a day. Its programming is divided in two blocks. The first block, called Ronda Pakapaka, is aimed for children aged 2 to 5 years old (preschoolers),^[2] and contains the following programmes:^[18]

• Los mundos de Uli
• Medialuna y las noches mágicas
• Molly (Die kleine Monsterin)
• Soli y Lu
• Tincho

The second block, intended for children of ages 6 to 12 years old, contains the following programmes:

• + pelis
• Annedroids
• Amigos
• Biblioteca infinita
• Cachorros de zoo
• Cazadores de sonidos
• Chambi y Max, refugio animal
• Cineclub Pakapaka
• Ciro Todorov
• Ciencia zapata
• Cuentos de había una vez
• Cuentos de terror para Franco
• Cuentos muy, muy exagerados
• Caidos del mapa
• Dragon Ball Z
• El asombroso mundo de Zamba
• El capitán Nariz de lata
• En globo por el globo
• Experimentores
• Feria de variedades
• Familia pampa
• Fungi (cancelled in 2013)
• Gen Z
• Hostal Morrison
• Horacio y los plasticines
• Horrible Histories (cancelled in 2014)
• Inteligencia Animal
• Ideas Rompecraneos
• Jasmine & Jambo
• Kikirikí
• La asombrosa excursión de Zamba
• La casa de la ciencia
• Listo el pollo
• The Little Orchestra
• Mi Genial y Fantástico Sasquatch
• Minimalitos
• Misterios Submarinos
• Monstruos rodantes
• The Motorhomes
• Notipakapaka
• Paper Port
• Paprika
• Petit
• Pim and Pom at the Museum
• Polinópolis
• Pompon Little Bear
• Reffi
• Robotia
• Rosarito y sus pizarras mágicas
• School of Roars
• Shaun the Sheep (season 6)
• Siesta Z
• Soñadores
• S.O.S. Mediadores
• Taina y los guardianes de la amazonia
• Tina & Tony
• Tuttle Twins
• Vuelta por el universo