"Starz Kids & Family" launched on March 25, 2005, out of the consolidation of the once separate services Starz! Family (which was launched in May 1999) and Starz! Kids (which launched over the channel space now occupied by Starz Comedy in 2003), Starz Kids & Family features commercial-free family movies – including action and adventure movies, dramas and comedies, along with some animated and imported live-action children's series. The channel features two program blocks: "Building Blocks", a weekday morning block of animated series (primarily imported from Canada) and "Six Block", a weekday evening block of imported live-action series aimed at a pre-teen audience. Unlike Encore Family (which replaced Encore Wam in August 2011), Starz Kids & Family features some PG-13 rated films within its schedule, in addition to G- and PG-rated films. Due to its family-targeted format, the network does not broadcast any R-rated movies or TV-MA rated programming, only showing programs that are rated G, PG or PG-13 (or the equivalent TV-G, TV-PG or TV-14). Despite being a premium service, cable providers have occasionally used Starz Kids & Family (and its predecessor, Starz Family) to temporarily replace television stations dropped due to carriage disputes such as during Journal Broadcast Group's 2013 dispute with Time Warner Cable. This dispute resulted in TWC's systems in certain markets substituting other stations (such as the Local AccuWeather Channel- and Live Well Network-affiliated digital subchannels of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's WTMJ-TV) with the channel. A January 2000 dispute between Cox Communications and Fox Television Stations resulted in Starz! Family replacing Fox owned-and-operated stations in six markets.
