Kidoodle.TV was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Michael Lowe and president and CPO Neil Gruninger. It was commercially launched across the United States and Canada in 2014 and today is available in more than 140 countries with millions of app installs, is accessible on more than 1,000 devices and was voted the No. 1 kids’ app on Roku.

Lowe recalled leaving his son to watch a YouTube program while he made himself a cup of coffee. By the time he was back, the boy had been so scared by what he had seen that he was traumatized for a long period of time. Lowe was determined to find a safer platform for kids to watch, and the former Calgary Canucks player who had been making his own TV shows decided to develop his own.

He met Gruninger — a user interface designer who had graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a fine arts degree in New Media, and had been working as a creative director and web developer — and through conversations about the need to protect children and families online they started family-focused A Parent Media Co.

“Because we didn’t believe in paying ourselves until the company was generating revenue, we had to band together in every way, splitting meals, sharing hotel rooms and, of course, having me move into Mike’s basement and solidifying me as the fifth addition to his family,” Gruninger says. “All in all, this was a blessing in disguise and key to our business success, because it gave me a test bed/focus group with his boys to help me map out Kidoodle.TV geared toward keeping a new generation of children growing up in the connected age.”

Kidoodle.TV has successfully addressed concerns by providing a children’s video-on-demand safe streaming service with both ad-supported and subscription account models.

The Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube $170 million for violating children’s privacy. The company generates more than $10 billion a year in revenue.