Nickelodeon
Logo used since 2023[a] | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United States Canada |
| Headquarters | One Astor Plaza New York City, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) |
|
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Paramount Skydance |
| Parent | Nickelodeon Group |
| Sister channels | List
|
| History | |
| Founded | December 1, 1977 |
| Launched | April 1, 1979 |
| Founder | Vivian Horner |
| Former names | C-3 (1977–1979) |
| Links | |
| Website | nick |
| Availability (channel space shared with nighttime programming block Nick at Nite) | |
| Streaming media | |
| Affiliated Streaming Service | Paramount+ |
| Service(s) | DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Philo, Spectrum TV Stream, YouTube TV |
Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children, it is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2 to 17,[1] along with a broader family audience through its programming blocks.
The channel began as a test broadcast on December 1, 1977,[2] as part of QUBE,[3] an early cable television system broadcast locally in Columbus, Ohio.[4] On April 1, 1979, the channel was renamed Nickelodeon and launched to a new nationwide audience,[5] with Pinwheel as its inaugural program.[4] The network was initially commercial-free and remained without advertising until 1984. Nickelodeon gained a rebranding in programming and image that year, and its ensuing success led to it and its sister networks MTV and VH1 being sold to Viacom in 1985.[6][7]
Nickelodeon began expanding as a franchise model with the addition of sister channels and program blocks. Nick Jr. launched as preschool morning block on January 4, 1988, and was eventually spun-off into the Nick Jr. Channel in 2009. Nicktoons, based on the flagship brand for Nickelodeon original animated series, launched as a standalone channel in 2002. Noggin, an interactive educational brand created in partnership with Sesame Workshop, existed as a television channel from 1999 to 2009 and a mobile streaming service from 2015 to 2024. Two blocks aimed at teenage audiences, Nickelodeon's TEENick and Noggin's The N, were merged to form the TeenNick channel in 2009.
As of December 2023, Nickelodeon was available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States, down from its peak of 101 million households in 2011.[8]
| 1977 | First Pinwheel broadcast on Qube |
|---|---|
| 1979 | is launched by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment |
| 1984 | A&E merges two networks onto Nickelodeon's prime time schedule |
| 1985 | Launch of prime time and overnight programming through Nick at Nite with A&E's spin-off to 24-hour operation |
| 1986 | Viacom acquires network parent MTV Networks |
| 1987 | The first Big Ballot, which would became the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards |
| 1988 | Nick Jr. launches in mornings |
| 1990 | Opening of Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida |
| 1991 | The first Nicktoons premiere |
| 1992 | SNICK, the network's Saturday night block, begins Nickelodeon Animation Studio is founded |
| 1993 | Nickelodeon UK debuts |
| 1994 | Nickelodeon launches The Big Help |
| 1995 | Nick.com is launched |
| 1996 | First theatrical release by Nickelodeon Movies |
| 1999 | Noggin, a joint venture with CTW launches |
| 2000 | Nickelodeon on CBS airs from 2000–2006 |
| 2001 | TEENick is launched |
| 2002 | The N is launched on Noggin and Nicktoons TV is launched Sesame Workshop sells their stake in Noggin to Viacom MTV Hits is launched |
| 2005 | SNICK shuts down Nickelodeon Studios closes |
| 2007 | Nick GAS shuts down, The N takes over its channel space |
| 2009 | Nickelodeon acquires the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise TEENick and The N merged to create TeenNick, Noggin is replaced by the Nick Jr. Channel |
| 2010 | Nickelodeon begins co-producing the Winx Club franchise |
| 2011 | NickRewind launches on TeenNick as The 90's Are All That |
| 2012 | NickMom is launched overnight on the Nick Jr. Channel |
| 2015 | NickMom closes Noggin relaunches as a streaming service |
| 2016 | MTV Hits becomes NickMusic |
| 2021 | NFL on Nickelodeon premieres in partnership with CBS Sports More Nickelodeon content becomes available on Paramount+ |
| 2022 | NickRewind is discontinued, although it is still active on social media |
| 2024 | Noggin shuts down; the brand is later sold to CEO Kristen Kane Closure of NickJr.com and its content is moved to Nick.com Closure of Pakistani channel |
| 2025 | Closure of international Nickelodeon websites Noggin relaunches as an independent platform |
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Hemsworth, Aaron (January 3, 2018). "Viacom's Nickelodeon Remains Driving Force for Media Segment". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ^ Julie Young (May 28, 2013). The Famous Faces of Indy's WTTV-4. Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-62584-506-1.
- ^ Hendershot 2004, pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b "QUBE Interactive Television History: It Came From Columbus". Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet. June 28, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
- ^ Jay Bobbin. "Nickelodeon 20th Birthday from Green Slime to Prime Time, The Kids Network Celebrates with Lots of Special Events", The Buffalo News, June 20, 1999.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (September 2, 1983). "Cable's Nickelodeon is all for the children". Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- ^ Hendershot 2004, p. 21–22.
- ^ "U.S. cable network households (universe), 1990 – 2023". Wrestlenomics. May 14, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2019.