Nickelodeon (TV channel)

This article is about the TV channel. For other uses, see Nickelodeon (disambiguation).

Nickelodeon (Nick for short, launched April 1, 1979) is a cable TV network primarily for children and pre-teens, but also features shows aimed towards teenagers in TEENick. The first Nickelodeon channel was American, but there are now several channels in different countries such as South East Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Scandinavia, and Western Europe.

Nickelodeon has produced and aired many programs. The channel became known for its iconic green slime, originally used on the Canadian sketch-comedy show You Can't Do That on Television. It was then adopted by the station as a primary feature of many of its shows, a few gone off the channel.

Many adults know the service best for its Nick at Nite offerings of classic TV sitcoms in the prime-time and overnight hours.

Many of Nickelodeon's animated television series, or "Nicktoons," have gained a reputation for dark humor, surrealism, and unique commentary. Some examples of this include Ren and Stimpy, Invader Zim, AAAHH!!! Real Monsters, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Rocko's Modern Life.

History

The world's first cable channel devoted to programming for children and youth, Nickelodeon debuted in 1979 as Pinwheel (renamed to "Nickelodeon" in 1981). Originally it was commercial free, but accepted advertising commercial breaks and commercials beginning in Fall 1984. It was originally owned by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, a joint venture of American Express and Warner Communications; it is now part of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom. On many cable systems, Nickelodeon shared its airspace with ARTS (a cultural channel, short for "Alpha Repertory Television Service". Nickelodeon aired from 6am to 9pm daily, when it switched over to ARTS., which aired from 9pm to midnight. After a merger with "The Entertainment Channel", ARTS became Arts & Entertainment, or as it is known now, A&E in 1984. A&E aired from 8pm-6am.

Early hits included the sketch comedy program You Can't Do That On Television, the afternoon variety/activity show Don't Just Sit There, the educational show Mr. Wizard's World, and the game show Double Dare (which produced several sequel series). The network also frequently broadcast reruns of classic childrens' shows such as Dennis The Menace and Lassie.

In 1986, Nick held the Big Ballot, an award show voted on by kids that would later become the Kids' Choice Awards (created by Alan Goodman, Albie Hecht, and Fred Seibert). Each April, the Kids' Choice Awards show honors kids' favorites in movies, music, television, and sports, and features stereotypically juvenile elements like the Best Fart award and a celebrity burp-off.

Nickelodeon began producing original animated shows known as Nicktoons in 1991. The three original Nicktoons Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show debuted that year.

In May 1999, Nickelodeon introduced their most popular original show to date, SpongeBob SquarePants. The animated show would be embraced by both young and old alike worldwide, has sold millions of dollars in merchandise, and would become a pop culture icon. Nicktoons with similar appeal such as The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim would soon follow. Invader Zim was cancelled about 2 years after its premiere, but gained a cult following. The Fairly OddParents (originally aired on Oh Yeah! Cartoons); however, has become one of the channel's most popular shows. In 2002, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron aired for the first time.

Nick at Nite

In July 1985, the Nick at Nite programming block began airing on Nickelodeon from prime time to early morning; originally A&E aired after 8pm Eastern. The early lineups featured such black and white classics as The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Route 66, as well as Mad Movies with the LA Connection and Nickelodeon's Turkey Television on weekends. More recent programming included various sitcoms from the '70s, '80s and '90s such as The Cosby Show, Roseanne, Full House, Cheers, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Nick at Night has also produced original programming such as Fatherhood (an animated show based on the book by Bill Cosby) and Hi-Jinks (a Punk'd-like series where parents play practical jokes on their children). This block is known as Nick Comedy on Nick Germany. In the mid-to-late-1990s, shows like I Love Lucy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and shows that are now on TV Land were aired on Nick at Nite. Generally speaking, Nick at Nite's programming has moved forward with the times, while still broadcasting shows at least ten to twenty years old.

Nick-at-Nite was conceived and developed as the first 'oldies' television network by long time MTV Networks consultants Fred/Alan Inc. (Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman).

Other Nickelodeon channels

In 1996, Nick at Nite spun off the channel TV Land, which currently airs a variety of older shows, primarily sitcoms from 1951 to 1992.

Nickelodeon has spun off other cable networks: Nick 2 (Nick on a three hour delay -- its west coast feed repackaged for east coast viewers), Nick Games and Sports (Nick GAS), NickToons Network, and Noggin/The-N (originally a joint venture with the Children's Television Workshop). It also operates language- or culture-specific Nickelodeon channels for various markets in different parts of the world, and has licensed translated versions of some of its cartoons and other content to TV and cable stations such as Kinderkanal and Super RTL of Germany, YTV of Canada, Canal J of France, and Alpha Kids from Greece.

International Networks

Outside of the U.S., Nickelodeon appears in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Gozo, India, Ireland, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Malta, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Southeast Asia

MTV Networks Asia launched Nickelodeon Asia a long time ago. Nickelodeon was launched in Singapore and expanded its services in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Polynesia. In the present, Nickelodeon Philippines and Nickelodeon India started working independently. They started their new website, Nicksplat.com in 2003.

In India, Nickelodeon is available in the One Alliance boquet. In the Philippines, it is available on SkyCable Gold, Silver and Platinum channel 45 and Global Destiny Cable channel 21. In Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, it is available over Now TV (HK), Starhub Cable TV (SG) and ASTRO (MY).

Other Nickelodeon projects

Nick.com

Nick's website launched in 1995. The website features many sections and services:

The "myNick" service allows regular visitors to the website to get personalized information, post on internet forums, and collect e-Collectibles, akin to trading cards (the very first collection commemorated the 10th anniversary of Rugrats in 2001).
The "All Nick" section features description of Nickelodeon's television shows and movies, the current programming schedule, specials, and information on their magazine, Nickelodeon Magazine.
The "Games" section features games of various sorts (many based on Nick programs) and information on popular video games, including Nicktropolis, Nick.com's new virtual city.
The "Music" section(now listed under "Buzz") is devoted to popular music, featuring news on various artists and music videos.
The "Web Lab" section (now listed under "Buzz") features has web exclusives, like Shockwave Flash-animated games featuring Agent Pixel and Tony Simiano, among others; shorts featuring the Crimson Chin from The Fairly OddParents; and e-Cards.(No longer on website.)
The "Blab" section features message boards for each Nickelodeon show, and from time to time, celebrities chat in the "Blab-a-torium" chat room.
The "myWorld" section (formerly know as "Your World") features the Nick GAS (Games and Sports) subsection, sections devoted to entertainment news, e-calendar, weather, horoscopes, jokes, weird news, and "Nick Talk."
The "TurboNick" section, introduced in 2005, allows visitors to view streaming episodes of shows over the internet. (This section limited to U.S. viewers and only compatible with Windows XP and Windows 2000).
Members of the myNick service choose a nickname and a password which enables them to make a nickpage which is a special page with a theme usually relating to a Nick TV Show, a holiday, or another theme like music or jurassic.
The "Shop" section features products having to do with characters in various TV programs. However, some believe it contains spyware program, ShopAtHome Select (also known as ShopAtHome, or SAHAgent).
In 2006, They featured Nick's New Game of The Week, in which features a new game every week.

Nickelodeon Magazine

Nickelodeon also publishes Nickelodeon magazine. The current magazine was launched in 1993, following a short-lived effort from 1990. It contains informative non-fiction pieces, humor, interviews, pranks, recipes (such as green slime cake), and a big comic book section in the center that features original comics by leading underground cartoonists as well as strips about popular Nicktoons.

Nickelodeon Hotel

Nickelodeon Family Suites is a Nickelodeon-themed Holiday Inn hotel in Orlando, Florida, located near Universal Studios Resort and two miles from Walt Disney World Resort. The property includes one, two, and three-bedroom Nick-themed kid suites and various forms of Nick-themed entertainment. Nickelodeon Family Suites also contains a Nick at Nite suite for adults.

Nickelodeon Movies

Nickelodeon Movies is the motion picture production arm of children's cable television channel Nickelodeon. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon programs, as well as other adaptations and original projects. Its films are released by fellow Viacom division Paramount Pictures.

Nickelodeon Studios

Nickelodeon Studios was an attraction at Universal Orlando that opened up in June of 1990, and housed production for many Nickelodeon programs. It closed down on April 30, 2005, after all of Nickelodeon's production had re-located to Burbank, California and New York City. The Slime Geyser was removed from the front of the facility in May of 2005, and the trademark Nickelodeon sign was removed in January 2006.

External links

Official Site
mundonick (South America)
NICK Rewind - The past and the present of Nick
ClassicNick.com - Program History and Schedules
Nickelodeon Asian Site
Nickelodeon Scandinavian Site
The classic Nickelodeon petition Petitioning Nickelodeon to Re-release classic material.
Nickelodeon Hotel Official Site
Nickelodeon Timeline
Nickelodeon Schedule

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