Nickelodeon UK

Encyclopedia : N : NI : NIC : Nickelodeon UK

For Nickelodeon in United States, see Nickelodeon (TV channel).

Nickelodeon UK (usually called Nickelodeon or Nick) is a satellite/cable TV station for children. Although one of the oldest children's stations in the UK, it is not the first (which was the now closed down The Children's Channel in 1984).

Contents

1 History
2 Ownership
3 Other channels
4 Current Shows seen on Nickelodeon
5 Former Nickelodeon Shows
6 Nickelodeon: Outta Control
7 See also
8 External links

History

Screenshot of NickText

Originally launched on September 1 1993, and aired from 6am-7pm, Nickelodeon shown both cartoons and live action shows for children. The channel originally had a transponder to itself on the Astra satellite, and whilst off-air would show testcards (which usually had schedule information), or NickText, the channel's teletext service. On cable, it was up to the operator which channel it would timeshare with, which caused problems whenever Nickelodeon extended its hours. The channel timeshared with the Paramount Channel (later Paramount Comedy Channel, now Paramount Comedy 1) after its launch in 1995. The channels are separate on Digital Satellite & Digital Cable, though still share on some analogue cable services.

Originally there were no presenters, but eventually Nick Alive! was launched, which were live links between shows, which often consisted of just a presenter, and with phone-ins. Eventually, these live links were moved to bigger studios, children are now invited down to the studio to take part, and appear under several names.

When Sky Digital launched, Nickelodeon was in the original channel line-up, and the broadcast hours increased from 6am-10pm in 1998, and further from 5am-11pm in 2005, though continues to timeshare on analogue. Nickelodeon was also in the ITV Digital lineup, until it closed down in 2002.

A few years ago Nickelodeon launched a separate stream for the Republic of Ireland. As with Sky One or MTV, the only difference is the advertisements, and the programming remains the same. The Irish stream is also broadcast from the UK, however, and is supplied to all Irish cable operators and Irish subscribers of Sky Digital.

Ownership

The British Nickelodeon channels are operated by Nickelodeon UK, a private unlimited company that is a 50/50 joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and Viacom, the ultimate owners of the Nickelodeon branded channels in the USA. Unlike in America there is little if any operational connection to the British and European MTV channels which are run by MTV Networks Europe.

From 1995, there was an operational connection to the The Paramount Channel (later the Paramount Comedy Channel and now simply Paramount Comedy) which was launched by the Paramount UK Partnership, another joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting (25%) and Viacom (75%). The channels shared transponder space as well as offices, though they now they have separate offices and each operate multiple channels that no longer share bandwidth.

Other channels

On 1 September 1999 two channels were launched on Sky Digital: Nick Jr., which shows pre-school programming, as well as during the daytime on its main channel (though this strand has long since been dropped, though briefly reintroduced in 2005). Nick Replay was launched, which is a timeshift program which shown the main Nickelodeon channel one hour later.

In July 2002, Nicktoons TV, which has since been shortened to just Nicktoons, was launched. This shows Nicktoons, as well as other cartoons, all day.

Since October 31 2005, Nickelodeon and Nicktoons extended their hours to 5am-11pm. Nick Replay extended from 6am-12am. Teleshopping also was shown on these channels outside transmission times, as well as Nick Jr, who as yet changed its transmission times. Prior to then, these channels showed a test card, logo slide or promo loop during the off-hours. Nick Jr originally timeshared with MTV Dance when that channel launched in early 2001, though that time sharing has long since ceased, with MTV Dance since going 24 hours.

In April 24, 2006, Nick Jr 2 The Second Channel For Nick Jr Launched Same Date As Cartoon Network TOO Launches.

Current Shows seen on Nickelodeon

Complete Savages
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
Drake & Josh
Kenan & Kel
My Parents Are Aliens
Naturally, Sadie
Renford Rejects
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
The Sleepover Club
Zoey 101
Catscratch
Danny Phantom
The Fairly Odd Parents
Mr. Bean - The Animated Series
Rugrats
SpongeBob SquarePants
Mona the Vampire
Laugh Out Loud
Three Friends & Jerry
Genie In The House
Darcy's Wild Life
Instant Star
Raising Dad
Saved By The Bell
The Amanda show

Former Nickelodeon Shows

Nickelodeon: Outta Control

From 1997-1999, Alton Towers opened an attraction in conjunction with Nickelodeon. There were several rooms, each with its own attraction. At the end, you were played back a recording of the journey around the attraction. It closed in 1999 for no apparent reason.

External links

Viacom Inc.

Annual Revenue: .3 billion USD ( 10% 3Q 2005) | Employees: 38,350 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [VIAB] | Website: [www.viacom.com]

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