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American digital cable and satellite television network From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NickToons[a] is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. The channel is geared towards children aged 7 to 11.[1]
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | One Astor Plaza New York, New York, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) |
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| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Paramount Global |
| Parent | Paramount Media Networks |
| Sister channels | List |
| History | |
| Launched | May 1, 2002 |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Affiliated Streaming Service | Paramount+ |
| YouTube TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream, Philo, Hulu + Live TV, Vidgo | |
As of December 2023[update], NickToons is available to approximately 43,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2013 peak of 69,000,000 households.[2]
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| 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 |
| 2019 | Nickelodeon acquires Paws, Inc. & the rights to Garfield (except for the first three shows and the movies.) |
| 2023 | Nickelodeon introduced a new take on their classic splat branding |
| 2024 | Noggin shut down |
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2023) |
Nicktoons was launched as a standalone channel on May 1, 2002, as Nicktoons TV, part of the digital cable-exclusive MTV Digital Suite, in order to entice cable operators to pick up the network and give them a marketing advantage over satellite services.[citation needed] However, by early 2004, Nickelodeon management changed course and offered it to digital satellite services DirecTV and Dish Network. The network was originally marketed as commercial-free, with comedic promos involving Nickelodeon Animation Studios, two-minute cartoon shorts from foreign markets, and former program promotions that had previously been used on Nickelodeon taking up commercial time. By September 23, 2005, as the network's distribution increased, it began to carry regular advertising.[citation needed]
On September 28, 2009, the network's logo changed as part of Nickelodeon's universal rebranding effort.[3] A high-definition feed was launched on August 13, 2013, and is available on several providers.[4][5] Like Viacom's other HD channels, any programming produced in 4:3 SD is pillarboxed on this feed. As the network blended in more Nickelodeon programming into its schedule, the Nicktoons website was sunset to a parking page directing viewers to Nick.com before it was eventually redirected quietly to the latter website.
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2024) |
Since its inception, Nicktoons has mainly aired programs carried over from the main Nickelodeon channel, with some occasional airing of Nickelodeon's live-action programming depending on Viacom's programming direction at the time.
Beginning in the mid-2000s, many older shows such as Rocko's Modern Life and CatDog, were removed from the schedule as more acquired programming and Nicktoons Network originals were premiering, many were cancelled by the early-2010s, with some having different reasons, for example, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and Wolverine and the X-Men were effectively cancelled when The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Studios in 2009.
Starting in the summer of 2024, the network's entire schedule is exclusively episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and The Patrick Star Show, promoted as Non-Stop SpongeBob. The episodes air in a random and unthemed order.
Since 2006, Nickelodeon has used Nicktoons to burn-off the remaining episodes of under-performing shows. Including shows both acquired and initially created for the Nickelodeon channel. Some first run shows include As Told By Ginger, Back at the Barnyard, Breadwinners, Bunsen Is a Beast, Harvey Beaks, It's Pony, The Mighty B!, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, Planet Sheen, Robot and Monster, T.U.F.F. Puppy, Welcome to the Wayne, and season 10 of The Fairly OddParents. Some acquired shows that were moved over and finished their runs on the network include Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, Ollie's Pack and Rabbids Invasion (though the series moved to Netflix for its fourth and final season).
On September 3, 2014, a two-hour Wednesday prime time programming block named NickSports was launched on the channel, tying into the Kids' Choice Sports inaugurated that year.[6] The block presented mainly licensed programming focusing on sports, including the Rob Dyrdek-starring Wild Grinders and NFL Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, along with sports-related feature films such as Bend It Like Beckham, Cool Runnings, and Space Jam.[6] Sometime in 2015, the block was moved to a Friday prime time slot. The block ended in September 2018.
From 2006 until 2009, Nicktoons Network used a robot mascot in bumpers and advertisements for the channel.[7] The mascot, named "ACOW," which stands for Animation Capital of the World, was a complex robot character with a large singular eye, animated using "photo-puppetry."[8] ACOW was prominently featured on the NicktoonsNetwork.com website[9] and was used as part of the "Nicktoons Network: Animation Capital of the World" logo.[10] Several similar-looking eyeball-based characters were seen in promos for the network.
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