.svg){kind=logo} Logo used since March 2023[a] | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | One Astor Plaza New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) |
|
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Paramount Media Networks |
| Parent | Nickelodeon Group |
| Sister channels | |
| 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+ |
| Internet Protocol television | Philo, FuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV |
Nickelodeon (occasionally shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through Paramount Media Networks' subdivision, Nickelodeon Group. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children, the channel is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2 to 17,[1] along with a broader family audience through its program blocks.
The channel began life 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] The channel, now named Nickelodeon, launched to a new nationwide audience on April 1, 1979,[5] with Pinwheel as its inaugural program.[4] The network was initially commercial-free and remained without advertising until 1984. Nickelodeon gained a new facelift regarding programming and image that fall, and its ensuing success led to it and its sister networks MTV and VH1 being sold to Viacom in 1985.[6][7]
Nickelodeon has expanded its franchise through several sister channels and programming blocks. Nick Jr. launched as preschool morning block on January 4, 1988, and was eventually spun-off into a separate channel in 2009. Nicktoons, based on the flagship brand for original animated series, launched as a standalone channel in 2002. Noggin, an interactive educational brand created in partnership with Sesame Workshop, existed as a channel from 1999 to 2009 and as 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[update], Nickelodeon is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States, down from its peak of 101 million households in 2011.[8]
 | |
| 1977 | Pinwheel broadcasts on Qube |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Nickelodeon is launched by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment |
| 1984 | Nickelodeon introduces its Balloon font logo |
| 1985 | Nick at Nite is launched |
| 1986 | Double Dare premieres; Viacom gains full ownership of the network |
| 1987 | The Big Ballot (later known as the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards) premieres |
| 1988 | The programming block Nick Jr. is launched |
| 1991 | Nickelodeon debuted their "Nicktoons" brand with Doug, Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy premiering |
| 1992 | The programming block SNICK was launched |
| 1994 | Nickelodeon launches The Big Help |
| 1996 | Nickelodeon released its first feature-length film in theaters, Harriet the Spy |
| 1996 | Blue's Clues premieres on Nick Jr. |
| 1999 | Noggin, a joint venture with Sesame Workshop, is launched |
| 1999 | SpongeBob SquarePants premieres |
| 2000 | Dora the Explorer premieres on Nick Jr. |
| 2001 | TEENick is launched |
| 2002 | The N is launched on Noggin and the Nicktoons channel is launched |
| 2005 | Nickelodeon premieres Avatar: The Last Airbender |
| 2009 | Nickelodeon goes through a major rebrand: TEENick and The N merged to form TeenNick, Noggin was replaced by the Nick Jr. Channel, and Nicktoons Network became Nicktoons |
| 2009 | Nickelodeon acquired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise |
| 2010 | Nickelodeon began co-producing the Winx Club franchise |
| 2012 | Viacom and DirecTV have a contract dispute, causing Nickelodeon to be taken off the service for several days while an agreement was reached. |
| 2015 | Nickelodeon revived Noggin as a streaming service |
| 2023 | Nickelodeon introduced a new take on their classic splat branding |
| 2024 | Noggin shut down |
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.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Hendershot 2004, p. 21–22.
- ^ "U.S. cable network households (universe), 1990 – 2023". wrestlenomics.com. May 14, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2019.