Aura (U.S. TV channel)

Aura is an American television channel owned by FlareNetworks; the channel launched on November 1st, 2017.

History


On September 15th, 2017, NF@Nite was relaunched as AuraNightfall to reduce the risk of complaints from several parental groups and to create an adult-oriented branding that's related to Nickelodeon Family yet distant from its branding. Subsequently, adult-oriented programming was almost-entirely phased out from Nicktoons Family (via discontinuation of AnimeNight) for this reason. Not long after, it was announced that Vortexx Network was to come under the editorial control of Nickelodeon Family Networks, USA and relaunch as Aura.

In preparation for the channel's launch, several divisions of CG66 Studios were restructured under the "Aura" branding, such as CG66 Networks (renamed "Aura International") and CG66 XD Networks (renamed "Aura Xtreme Networks"). Nickelodeon Family Networks, USA (since rebranded AuraTelevision) also became a subsidiary of Aura International around this time.

The channel launched on November 1st, 2017, with the distinction of having more first-run shows at launch (due to acquiring the rights to most first-run programming from its sister network Cartoon Network XD) then any other channel owned by CG66 Studios at launch.

Its sister channel AuraToons was launched on January 1st, 2018, offering animated series that Aura didn't have room for on its main channel.

In January 2018, it was announced that CBS Studios' license agreement with CBS was set to expire on January 31st, 2018; CG66 Studios has since announced that it would make CBS Studios a subsidiary of NickFamily Studios, move the television studios of Aura into its facility and rename CBS Studios into Aura Television Productions, with its film division to be reorganized into Aura Films.

In March 2018, it was announced that Cartoon Network XD Retro, at the time a burn-off channel for series that formerly aired on Cartoon Network XD, would be relaunched as Aura Retro as soon as a possible sale or shutdown of the main Cartoon Network XD is considered.

On April 7th, 2018, Aura Xtreme Networks filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Under the conditions of the liquidation of Aura Xtreme Networks, Aura Television Productions will continue to provide programming for Vortexx Network until April 30th, 2018 under a temporary contract with Axiom Entertainment.

On November 27th, 2022, AuraTelevision hinted that it might shut down the linear channel sometime in 2023 and sell off its channel space due to a lack of first-run programming, while moving the signal to Flare+ as a livestream. However, on November 29th, 2022, this plan was cancelled due to backlash. Around the same time, it was announced that AuraToons would itself be shut down and its channel space sold off, as its purpose had since been made redundant by NFCartoons.

Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Aura

Programming blocks

 * Nickelodeon Family on Aura (2017 - 2021): A three-hour block consisting of repeats of Nickelodeon Family/Nicktoons Family original series. In 2021, the name for the block was dropped, although shows from Nickelodeon Family/Nicktoons Family continue to air during the timeslot.
 * Aura Games (2017 - 2018): A three-hour block of game shows, usually acquired from Nickelodeon.
 * AuraRetro (2017 - 2018): A two-hour block of retro animation from various sources. The block ended after September 9th, 2018 due to its redundancy to the channel with almost the same name.
 * Nickelodeon on Aura (2017 - 2019): A 90-minute (shortened to 60 minutes on weekdays since September 10th, 2018) block of programs acquired from Nickelodeon. The block was discontinued in May 2019; Nickelodeon content was phased out of the slots over the next two months after the block's discontinuation and replaced with Aura Television Productions content and Aura original series, starting with the removal of Edgar & Ellen and What Would You Do?, which were replaced with Baseball Team 106 and Cottonsweet respectively. In July 2019, all remaining Nickelodeon content in the timeslots were replaced with an extra hour for prime time featuring former TeleAmerica series.
 * Aura Saturday Mornings (2017 - 2019): A five-hour Saturday morning block featuring shows formerly seen on Fox Box/4Kids TV and The CW4Kids/Toonzai. The block was discontinued in May 2019, leaving Ultimate Muscle, Mew Mew Power, and Magical DoReMi (mostly due to those series being license-rescued at least in part by AuraAnime Licensing) as the only former Fox Box/4Kids TV/The CW4Kids/Toonzai series left within the block's former timeslots, although they were later dropped when they started airing on NF; the rest were replaced with Aura Television Productions programming, mostly from NickFamily Studios.
 * Disney XD on Aura (2017 - 2019): A three-hour Sunday morning block featuring animated series from Disney XD. The block was discontinued in December 2019, in favor of reruns of former TeleAmerica originals.
 * Aura Prime Time (2017 - present): A two-hour block featuring Aura first-run series. In May 2019, Aura announced that it would tack on another hour for Aura's prime-time block by July 2019.
 * Aura for Adults (2017 - 2019): An overnight block aimed at teens and adults 17 and older; content warnings are shown before and during the block. In December 2019, the block was discontinued in-name, and many of the shows on the block would be removed by January 2020, due to Aura's shift towards first-party programming and first-party-licensed anime series. Adult content on Aura (particularly first-party content rated TV-14 or higher) would remain exclusive to the overnight hours.
 * Ranger Time (2017 - 2019): A half-hour block featuring series from both Power Rangers and Power Rangers: The Animated Series. In May 2019, Aura lost the broadcast rights to the live-action Power Rangers shows and replaced them with reruns of former Cartoon Network XD original series.
 * CNN Crash Course (2017 - present): An hour-long block featuring TV premieres of CNN 10 and Crash Course.
 * Ready, Set, Aura (2017 - 2018): A three-hour-long block of preschool/educational series, featuring Chloe, The Magic School Bus, and Gerald McBoing-Boing; in July 2018 it was announced that, in light of a bidding war between Aura and the upcoming AnimeNation CW block for the rights to Xelphos Chronicles, the block would be dissolved and replaced by a block of anime series. All shows on the block moved to the 11:00PM hour upon the shutdown of the block, and were eventually dropped altogether by May 4th, 2021. The anime block would later drop Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal altogether and replace it with Ultimate Muscle.
 * Surge (2018 - 2019): The American counterpart to YTV Family's Surge block, which itself is the Canadian counterpart to the block shown on Aura's sister channel Nickelodeon Family, SurgeAnime on Nickelodeon Family. The block's replacements, AnimeNation, AnimeNation Action, and Girl Power, are instead aired on sister channel Nickelodeon Family due to the Aura network's increased reliance on first-party shows.

TBA.