Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American cable channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers ages 2–6. Since 2006, Nickelodeon has been run by MTVN Kids & Family Group President Cyma Zarghami. It is ranked as the #1 cable channel as of 2011, and had been promoted as "The First Kids' Network," as it was the first American television network aimed at children since the Pinwheel days.
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Nickelodeon's broadcast day runs on Sundays from 6 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday-Thursdays from 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Fridays from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time). Since 1985, it shares its channel space with Nick at Nite, a night time channel that airs sitcom reruns during the interim hours. It is treated as a separate channel from Nickelodeon by A.C. Nielsen Co. for ratings purposes. The two services are sometimes referred to under the collective name "Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite", due to their association as two individual channels sharing the same channel space.

Early history (1977–1979)
Nickelodeon's pre-history began on December 1, 1977 when QUBE, the first two-way interactive cable TV system was launched in Columbus, Ohio by Warner Cable (owned by Warner Communications, and an ancestor of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment). One of the specialized channels available to subscribers of the QUBE system was Pinwheel, a cable channel offering children's programming.

Relaunch as Nickelodeon and national expansion (1979–1990)
Pinwheel was re-launched as Nickelodeon on April 1, 1979, and despite its prior history on the QUBE system under the Pinwheel name, Nickelodeon has declared that 1979 is the network's official launch year. It began airing on various Warner Cable systems, beginning in Buffalo, New York and quickly expanded its audience reach. Originally a commercial-free cable channel, shows airing during its broadcast day (which initially ran from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. ET on weekdays and 9 a.m.-8 p.m. ET on weekends) included Video Comic Book, Pop Clips and the long-running Pinwheel (now formatted as a daily hour-long series that ran in a 3-5 hour block format, and was a precursor to the Nick Jr. block) along with other shows such as America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks and By the Way. In 1980, new shows were added to the lineup, including Dusty's Treehouse, First Row Features, Special Delivery, What Will They Think Of Next?, Livewire, and Hocus Focus.



The network's first logo had a mime looking into a Nickelodeon machine that was placed in the N. In between television programs, the filler would be a mime, and the mime would turn the crank on the Nickelodeon as soon as the next program was about to start. As the channel signed off for the night, Star Channel (later The Movie Channel) would take over the channel space; this ended when ARTS launched. The second logo had the word "Nickelodeon" in Pinwheel's logo font. The third logo was a silver pinball with the "Nickelodeon" title in multicolor. Nickelodeon's first popular children's television series was You Can't Do That on Television, a Canadian sketch comedy that made its American debut on Nickelodeon in late 1981. On April 12, 1981, the channel extended its hours from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. ET by turning its channel over to the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) and, later until 1985, A&E Network after ARTS merged with NBC's struggling cable service The Entertainment Channel.

In 1983, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment began divesting its assets and spun off Nickelodeon and two other channels, MTV and the now-defunct Radio Television Station (RTS) into the newly-formed subsidiary; in order to increase revenue, Nickelodeon began to accept PBS-style corporate underwriting for its programming. The green slime originally featured on You Can't Do That On Television was then adopted by the channel as a primary feature of many of its shows, including Double Dare. In the early years, other shows such as Livewire, Standby: Lights, Camera, Action, The Third Eye and Mr. Wizard's World were part of the regular Nickelodeon time slots.

The channel struggled at first, having lost $4 million by 1984, mostly due to a lack of successful programs including failed shows such as Against the Odds and Going Great, and finishing dead last among the cable channels. After firing the previous staff, MTV Networks president Bob Pittman turned to Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman, who created MTV's iconic IDs a few years earlier, to reinvigorate Nickelodeon. Seibert and Goodman's company, Fred/Alan (now Frederator Studios), teamed up with Tom Corey and Scott Nash of the advertising firm Corey McPherson Nash to replace the "Pinball" logo with the "orange splat" logo with the name Nickelodeon written in Balloon font, that would be used in hundreds of different variations for the next quarter century. Fred/Alan also enlisted the help of animators, writers, producers and doo-wop group The Jive Five to create new channel IDs. Within six months of the rebranding, Nickelodeon would become the dominant channel in children programming and has remained so for more than 25 years, even in the midst of increasing competition in recent years from other kids-oriented cable channels such as Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The same year as the rebrand, Nickelodeon began accepting traditional advertising.

In January 1985, after A&E dropped its partnership with Nickelodeon and became its own 24-hour channel, Nickelodeon simply went to a test screen after sign-off. That July, Nickelodeon added a new nighttime block called Nick at Nite, and became a 24/7 service. That same year, American Express sold their stake in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications and was renamed Warner Cable; by 1986, Warner Cable turned MTV Networks into a private company, and sold MTV, RTS, Nickelodeon and the new VH1 network to Viacom for $685 million. In 1988, Nick aired the first annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (previously known as The Big Ballot) and introduced Nick Jr., an educational television block for younger children around preschool age. Nick Jr. was made to replace Nickelodeon's former preschool block, Pinwheel.

Success in the 1990s and the 2000s (1990–2009)
In 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios, a television studio/attraction at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando which many of its sitcoms and game shows were filmed and entered into a multimillion-dollar joint marketing agreement with international restaurant chain Pizza Hut, which provided Nickelodeon Magazine for free at participating Pizza Hut restaurants (which was put on hiatus for three years). In 1991, for the first time, Nickelodeon developed its first animated series, Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show. These series, known as Nicktoons, premiered on August 11, 1991. The network had previously refused to produce weekly animated series due to high cost.

The three Nicktoons found success by 1993, so Nickelodeon developed its fourth Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life, which was also a success along with the three other Nicktoons. Later, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Wonder and released top selling video cassettes of the network's programming until 1997. Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show would both end production about that time, but still would air reruns up until about 2001. However Doug would find success when Disney Channel picked it up and placed it on its new block. It was called Disney's One Saturday Morning. Rugrats, on the other hand, returned from hiatus on May 9, 1997 (reruns continued to air up until that point). In 1998, The Rugrats Movie was released in theaters. The movie grossed more than $100 million in the United States and became the first non-Disney animated movie to ever earn that much. Then in May 1999, the channel debuted the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, which quickly became one of the most popular Nicktoons in the network's history, and has remained very popular to this day, consistently ranking as the channel's highest-rated series since 2000.

In August 1992, the channel extended its Saturday schedule to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET with the launch of a primetime block called SNICK, which was home to shows such as Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Clarissa Explains It All, All That, The Amanda Show and Kenan & Kel; in 2004, the block was reformatted as the Saturday edition of TEENick (which originally debuted on Sunday evenings in 2000), and the Saturday night block continues today without an official block name (though A Night of Premieres is occasionally used when two or more programs feature new episodes on that night); the TEENick branding, with its spelling altered to TeenNick, has since been used on the Nickelodeon sister channel previously known as The N. In June 1993, Nickelodeon resumed its magazine brand, Nickelodeon Magazine. The success of the Saturday primetime block led Nickelodeon to expand its programming into weeknight primetime in 1996, by extending its broadcast day to 8:30 p.m. ET (and later extended to 9 p.m. ET from 1998 to 2009) on Sunday through Friday nights.

In 1994, Nickelodeon launched The Big Help, which spawned a spinoff program The Big Green Help in 2007; the point of the program is to change yourself and the earth by exercising and protecting the environment to show a difference to the earth. Also that same year, Nickelodeon removed You Can't Do That on Television from its schedule after a thirteen-year run and by the same year the network had launched a new sketch comedy show, All That. For many years, until its cancellation in 2005, All That would launch the careers of many actors and actresses including Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, and Jamie Lynn Spears. The show's executive producer, Dan Schneider, would go on to create and produce several hit series for Nickelodeon including among others The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and Zoey 101, and more recently iCarly and Victorious. In October and December 1994, Nickelodeon sold Halloween and Christmas themed episodes of its Nicktoons through syndication to local markets across the United States, with then-new former corporate relative, Paramount Domestic Television (now CBS Television Distribution).

In October 1995, Nickelodeon ventured in the World Wide Web and launched Nick.com. Initially the website was available only using America Online's internet service, but was later available to all internet service providers. The website's popularity grew and in March 1999, Nick.com became the highest-rated website aimed at children aged 6–14 years old. Nickelodeon used the website in conjunction with television programs which increased traffic. In 2001, Nickelodeon partnered with Networks Inc. to provide broadband video games for rent from Nick.com. The move was a further step in the multimedia direction that the developers wanted to take the website. Skagerlind indicated that over 50% of Nick.com's audience are using a high speed connection which allows them to expand the gaming options on the website. To accompany the broadband content, TurboNick was created. Initially it was a popup panel which showcased broadband content on Nick.com.

In March 2004, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite were split up in the Nielsen primetime and total day ratings, due to the different programming, advertisers and target audiences between the two services; this caused controversy by cable executives believing this manipulated the ratings, given that Nick at Nite's broadcast day takes up only a fraction of Nickelodeon's programming schedule. Nickelodeon's and Nick at Nite's respective ratings periods encompasses only the hours they each operate under the total day rankings, though Nickelodeon only is rated for the daytime ratings; this is due to a ruling by Nielsen in July 2004, that networks have program for 51% or more of a daypart to qualify for ratings for a particular daypart.

Nickelodeon Studios closed down in 2005 and was converted into the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre in 2007; Nickelodeon now tapes its live-action series at the Nickelodeon On Sunset studios (formerly the Earl Carroll Theatre) in Hollywood, California and other studio locations in Hollywood and other areas. In 2007, Nickelodeon began a four-year development deal with Sony Music to produce music-themed series for the channel, help fund and launch albums in conjunction with the label tied to Nickelodeon shows and produce original songs for the programs to be released as singles as result; the only series produced under the partnership that was greenlit as a series, Victorious debuted in 2010, though a similar hit music-themed sitcom, Big Time Rush that debuted the same year features a similar partnership with Columbia Records, though with Columbia only being involved with the show's music, Sony Music became involved with that show's production midway through its first season. Big Time Rush soon, after less than a month on the air, became a hit series, garnering 6.8 million viewers for its debut on January 18, 2010, and setting a new record for highest-rated live-action series premiere in the network's history.

Rebranding and plans for the future (2009–present)
Nickelodeon had announced in February 2009 that Noggin and The N were to be rebranded as Nick Jr. and TeenNick to bring both channels in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity. Nickelodeon later announced in May 2009 that Nick Magazine would be discontinued by the end of the year. In July 2009, Nickelodeon unveiled a new logo for the first time in 25 years on the packaging of Nickelodeon DVDs coming out beginning that month, the Australian service, and that year's Nickelodeon Animation Festival, intending to create a unified look that can better be conveyed across all of MTV Networks's children's channels.

As of September 28, 2009, the new logo is used across Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, along with the rebranded TeenNick, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons (formerly The N, Noggin and Nicktoons Network, respectively) channels in varying versions customized for brand unification and refreshment purposes; a new logo for Nickelodeon Productions also began being used in end credit tags on all Nickelodeon shows, even on episodes aired before the new logo took effect (end credit tags of programs airing on TeenNick, Nick Jr. and some shows on Nicktoons only use the current Nickelodeon Productions logo and variants for their respective channel's original programming on episodes of series made after the rebrand). New York based creative director/designer Eric Zim rebranded Nickelodeon, creating the new identity, logos, and the look and feel. In addition to creating the new Nickelodeon corporate logo, he created a whole new logo system to represent the company’s entire family of sub-brands (including digital networks Nick Jr., Nicktoons, TeenNick and Nick at Nite).

Though it is mainly a wordmark, during the days prior to the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, the logo bug was given a blimp background to match the award given out at the show; and beginning the week of September 7, 2010 the logo was formed by a splat design (a la the 2006-2009 logo) in the on-screen program bug during new episodes of its original series. The new logo was adopted in the UK on February 15, 2010, in Spain on February 19, 2010, in Asia on March 15, 2010 and in Latin America on April 5, 2010. The "Nickelodeon on ABS-CBN" block on ABS-CBN in the Philippines adopted the rebranded logo on July 26, 2010. On November 2, 2009, a Canadian version of Nickelodeon was launched, in partnership between Viacom and Corus Entertainment (owners of YTV, which has aired Nick shows for several years, and will continue to do so); as a result, versions of Nickelodeon now exist in most of North America.

On May 12, 2010, after an agreement was reached with Haim Saban (who earlier that month had bought back rights to the Power Rangers franchise from The Walt Disney Company), Nickelodeon agreed to air an eighteenth season of the series, and the production resumed in late 2010 for. The new show, Power Rangers Samurai, debuted in February 7, 2011; as part of the deal, Nickelodeon also plans to air the existing 700-episode catalog of the series on the Nicktoons cable channel later that year.

On January 1, 2011, Nickelodeon debuted a new original series, House of Anubis. The show, which was based on the series Het Huis Anubis which aired on an international version of Nickelodeon in The Netherlands, became the first original scripted series to be broadcast in a weekdaily strip (in a similar format to a soap opera) and the first original series produced by the flagship Nickelodeon in the United States not to be produced in the United States or Canada.

Programming
Current programming on Nickelodeon includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Supah Ninjas, iCarly, Fanboy and Chum Chum, The Fairly Oddparents, Planet Sheen, Victorious, The Penguins of Madagascar, Big Time Rush, T.U.F.F. Puppy, "House of Anubis" and, "True Jackson VP". SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly, and Big Time Rush are the most frequently aired programs on Nickelodeon, with SpongeBob in particular typically airing about 7-9 times each day on average. iCarly currently ranks as of 2010 as the channel's highest-rated original series and the highest-rated cable program among children ages 2 and up, according to Nielsen Media Research. Nickelodeon also continues to air bi-monthly special editions of the long-running magazine series Nick News, hosted by Linda Ellerbee since its debut in 1992 (until the early 2000s, Nick News had aired on Nick on an almost weekly basis on Sunday nights).

On February 2, 2009, Nickelodeon discontinued the TEENick and Nick Jr. programming blocks but the programming within the blocks remained; the former TEENick Saturday evening and Sunday late afternoon blocks no longer carry a name.

On October 21, 2009, it was announced that Nickelodeon secured the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise from Mirage Studios. The network plans to develop a new CGI-animated TMNT television series and will partner with fellow Viacom company Paramount Pictures to bring a new TMNT movie to theaters. Both are expected for 2012. On September 2, 2010, Nickelodeon announced it had acquired the rights to the animated series Winx Club for broadcast on the flagship American channel and several of its international channels. The channel plans to produce a fifth and sixth season of the series, and has also gained the rights to air the existing episodes of the TV series and two theatrical films. During the months of June-August, four hour-long specials will be played summarizing the first two seasons, and starting in September seasons three and four will be aired with new voice acting.

On March 15, 2010, Nickelodeon announced the renewals of 16 of its existing series for the 2010-11 season that include the second season renewals of freshman series The Troop and Big Time Rush (the latter series was picked up for another season after only 10 episodes aired) and veteran series such as iCarly (whose fourth season renewal was already announced in late 2009 and it was announced later that it would be renewed for a 5th season as well), True Jackson, VP and SpongeBob SquarePants. The channel also announced the additions of an English-language version of the Belgian/Dutch live-action Nickelodeon series Het Huis Anubis called House of Anubis, a Kung Fu Panda' animated series, and the preschool series Bubble Guppies for the Nick Play Date block.

Unlike most cable channels (save for sports-oriented channels), Nickelodeon is sometimes susceptible to programs overrunning their designated timeslot because of short-form segments airing in commercial breaks during special programming which add time to commercial breaks with no limiting of the number of commercials shown when these segments air between breaks, this often causes program start times to be disrupted, which is problematic for those recording Nick programs as part of the program may be cut off. In these circumstances, commercial breaks may be shortened during some programs on Nick at Nite's late evening and overnight schedules and regular "top-and-bottom of the hour" start times would not be restored until early the next morning; similar issues in which programming schedules become off-sync also occur periodically on sister channels MTV and VH1.

Nicktoons
Nicktoons are animated television series produced by and aired on Nickelodeon. Until 1991, the animated series that aired on Nickelodeon were largely imported from foreign countries, and some original animated specials were also featured on the channel up to that point as well. Nicktoons continue to make up a substantial portion of Nickelodeon's lineup, with roughly 6–7 hours airing on weekdays and around nine hours on weekends including a five-hour weekend morning block. Since the late 2000s, after the channel struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2006 to develop the studio's animated films into weekly series, there has been a gradual shift towards Nicktoon series using three-dimensional computer animation rather than traditional or digital two-dimensional ink and paint; the introductions of The Penguins of Madagascar and Fanboy and Chum Chum to the channel's lineup reflect this.

Movies
Nickelodeon does not air movies on a regular basis; however, it does produce its own original made-for-cable television movies, which usually premiere in weekend evening timeslots.

The channel occasionally airs feature films produced by the network's Nickelodeon Movies film production division (whose films are distributed by sister company Paramount Pictures); however, despite the fact that the film division bears the Nickelodeon name, the Nickelodeon cable channel does not have access to most Nickelodeon Movies-produced films released through Paramount. Nickelodeon does have broadcast access to most feature films based on or that served as the basis for original series produced by the channel (such as Barnyard and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie); the majority of live-action feature films produced under the Nickelodeon Movies banner are licensed for broadcast by various television outlets, primarily cable networks (however, Nickelodeon has aired a small number of live-action features from Nickelodeon Movies including Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Good Burger, which have aired on the channel's Nick at Nite nighttime block).

Nickelodeon also advertises hour-long episodes of its original series, such as iCarly, True Jackson, VP, Big Time Rush, Victorious and House of Anubis as movies; though these technically do not qualify as such as the "TV movie" versions of Nickelodeon's original series are shorter than the standard length of a television movie (approximately 45 minutes without commercials, compared to the typical 75–100 minutes for television movies), the hour-long episodes of the channel's multi-camera comedies are shot using that camera setup (whereas feature films and television movies are standardly shot in a single-camera setup), laugh tracks are used and the programs are shot on videotape instead of film (though the video frame rate of its multi-camera comedies are reduced to the 24p film frame rate, using the filmizing process). Films not produced by Nickelodeon or its Nickelodeon Movies division also occasionally air on the channel including Universal's Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever (which was later released by Nickelodeon Movies through Paramount DVD for DVD release).

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are an annual event held on the last Saturday night in March, and airs live and is usually held and telecast live (though with a three-hour time delay for those watching in the Pacific Time Zone or on the Nick 2 feed on digital cable that, on systems in the Eastern and Central time zones, simulcasts the Pacific time zone feed), which honors the year's biggest television, movie, and music acts, as voted by Nickelodeon viewers. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine, a logo outline for much of the network's 1984-2009 "splat logo" era.

The show features numerous celebrity guests and about two or three musical acts. In recent years, slime stunts have been incorporated into the show. The KCA's also host live entertainment. It has also been known to overwhelmingly cover people with the network's trademark green slime. Will Smith has won the most KCA awards; Rosie O'Donnell has hosted the most KCA awards. In 2011, the first monster truck slime stunt was held.

Worldwide Day of Play
On October 2, 2004, Nickelodeon launched an annual event to mark the conclusion of its six-month long "Let's Just Play" campaign launched that same year called the Worldwide Day of Play, designed to influence kids to get active and participate in outdoor activities; schools and educational organizations are also encouraged to host events to promote activity among children. Nickelodeon and its sister channels Nick Jr., TeenNick and Nicktoons (along with some international versions of the channel) suspend programming for three hours from 12-3 p.m. ET/PT on a Saturday afternoon in late September (since 2005) during the event and show their testcards instead, and the respective websites of all four Nickelodeon channels are taken offline during that same three-hour time period.

All four Nickelodeon channels display a message on-screen encouraging viewers to participate in outdoor activities during that time and notifying them that the channels will resume normal programming at 3 p.m. ET/PT (the west coast feed of the main Nickelodeon channel viewable via basic cable in the Pacific and Mountain time zones, and on digital cable and satellite nationwide will begin suspending regular programming at the same time the east coast feed resumes programming). Since 2010, the Worldwide Day of Play event became part of The Big Help program, as part of an added focus on healthy lifestyles in addition to the program's main focus on environmental issues. New episodes of Nickelodeon's original series are commonly aired during its Saturday primetime lineup on the night of the event.

Programming blocks
Various types of programs are broadcast on Nickelodeon in named programming blocks.

Preschool programming block
Nickelodeon currently programs shows targeted at preschool-age children on Monday through Fridays from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. ET/PT. This block was known as "Nick Jr." from November 1988 to February 2009 and has been known as the "Play Date" since February 2009. The block exists because Nickelodeon's usual audience of school-age children are in school at that time; as such, on holidays and during the summer months, a shorter block of preschool shows will air in the earlier time period of 7-10 a.m. ET/PT, and the block does not air on weekend mornings.

Programming in the Nick Play Date block is somewhat fluid, but currently, Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Max and Ruby, and Team Umizoomi have a permanent place in the schedule.

Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as "nick@nite") is Nickelodeon's nighttime programming block. It debuted on July 1, 1985 and broadcasts over Nickelodeon on Sunday through Thursdays from 8 p.m.-7 a.m., Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-7 a.m. ET/PT. Originally featuring classic sitcoms such as The Donna Reed Show, Mr. Ed and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, programming changed to repeats of popular sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s such as Full House, Home Improvement, The Cosby Show and Roseanne.

Programs currently airing on Nick at Nite include George Lopez, Family Matters, The Nanny and most recently Everybody Hates Chris and My Wife and Kids. A.C. Nielsen That 70's Show rates Nick at Nite as being a separate cable channel from Nickelodeon. In 1996, the original older programming was spun off of Nick at Nite as a new channel entitled TV Land, which currently airs a variety of older shows, primarily sitcoms from the 1950s through the 2000s.

Weekend programming blocks
Nickelodeon airs first-run or recent episodes of its original series on Friday nights from 8-9 p.m. ET, Saturday mornings, and Saturday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET. , Friday nights feature a fluid schedule though Big Time Rush and Victorious typically have a place on that night's schedule, the Saturday night schedule (sometimes called "A Night of Premieres", when new episodes of three or four of its original programs are scheduled to air) features episode premieres or repeats of iCarly and True Jackson, VP along with repeats and periodic episode premieres of Big Time Rush and Victorious, while Sunday nights feature bi-monthly episode premieres of Nick News (which after Nickelodeon gave the Sunday 8 p.m. ET hour to Nick at Nite in June 2010, currently airs during what is technically part of the Nick at Nite schedule). The Saturday morning lineup (also sometimes called "A Morning of Premieres", when new episodes of at least three of its original animated series are scheduled to air), features episode premieres of many of the channel's animated series, including SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, The Penguins of Madagascar, Planet Sheen and T.U.F.F. Puppy.

Nickelodeon program blocks on other channels
On November 9, 1998, Spanish-dubbed versions of Rugrats, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, KaBlam! and Blue's Clues debuted on Telemundo. Nickelodeon programs were seen on Telemundo on weekdays until September 5, 2000, when they were relegated on weekends only, to make room for a morning news program; Telemundo terminated the lineup in November 2001 after NBC purchased that network and now carries qubo programming on Saturday mornings. On September 14, 2002, a two-hour block featuring Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, As Told by Ginger, The Wild Thornberrys, Hey Arnold!, and Pelswick debuted on most CBS stations. Then in 2004, a two-hour block featuring Nick Jr. shows returned on most CBS stations until September 2006, when the airtime was leased to DiC Entertainment and then later DiC purchaser Cookie Jar Group for their Cookie Jar TV block. In April 2008 Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go! and Pinky Dinky Doo from Nick Jr. were picked up by Univision for a block called Planeta U.

Nicktoons
This channel debuted on May 1, 2002, and was once known as Nicktoons TV from its launch until May 2003 and as Nicktoons Network from 2005 until September 2009. The channel airs classic Nicktoons during the overnight and early morning hours, and also airs Nicktoons produced exclusively for the channel and current first-run Nicktoons aired on Nickelodeon during the daytime and evening hours, along with a minimal amount of live-action programs from Nickelodeon. The channel is carried on a separate digital cable tier and is carried on expanded satellite packages.

Nick Jr.
This United States-based television channel aimed at preschool-aged children, originally launched as a joint venture between MTV Networks and Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) before Sesame Workshop opted out of the venture in 2002, has only programming promotions in lieu of commercials and is usually carried on a digital cable tier and the basic tiers of satellite providers. The channel's programming consists of preschool-oriented programming also seen on Nickelodeon's Nick Play Date block, original series exclusive to Nick Jr. and some discontinued shows seen on the former Nick Jr. block on Nickelodeon.

Originally launching on February 2, 1999 and based on the former Noggin, which starting in 2002, shared channel space with the teen-oriented The N (now TeenNick, and operating as a separate channel from Nick Jr. since December 31, 2007), the network was rebranded Nick Jr. as of September 28, 2009. The channel is named after the former Nick Jr. preschool program block on Nickelodeon, that ran weekday mornings from January 1988 to February 2009. As of September 2010, the channel is the only one out of the Nickelodeon channels that does not marginalize the closing credits of any of its shows for network promotion (although between midnight and 9 a.m. ET daily, Nicktoons also does not marginalize closing credits of their series for network promotion).

TeenNick
This television channel in the United States is aimed at teenagers and young adults, and is usually carried on a digital cable tier and the basic tiers of satellite providers. The channel, which has more relaxed program standards than the other Nickelodeon channels allowing for moderate profanity, suggestive dialogue and some violent content (though Nickelodeon series and some off-network programs airing on the channel do not include this), once shared the evening and overnight portion of each day with Noggin as The N (in a similar manner to Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite) starting with The N's initial launch on April 1, 2002, but on December 31, 2007 it took over Nickelodeon GAS's satellite transponder and became a stand-alone channel. The network was rebranded as TeenNick (with actor Nick Cannon as its "chairman") on September 28, 2009.

The channel is named after the former TEENick weekend evening program block on Nickelodeon, that ran from July 2000 to February 2009. The channel's flagship series is the Canadian teen drama Degrassi, which has aired uninterrupted on the channel since 2003 as The N, two years after its official debut on Canadian broadcast network CTV; TeenNick also airs repeats of current and former Nickelodeon series and some off-network sitcoms.

TV Land
A cable channel that was based on the Nick at Nite block, TV Land debuted on April 29, 1996 and originally aired classic programming from as far back as the early 1950s. Starting in 2004, TV Land moved to more modern programming such as reality shows and 1990s TV sitcoms. In 2007, TV Land created a programming block called, "TV Land PRIME." TV Land PRIME runs from 9 p.m. until 12 a.m. ET/PT (though curiously, shows that air within the block that are aired in timeslots outside of the block display the block's logo bug). TV Land PRIME is a programming block aimed towards TV Land viewers that are in the 40- to 55-year-old range. Since 2008, a minimal amount of original programming began being included as well airing within the TV Land PRIME block. In 2006, TV Land stopped operating under the control of Nick at Nite though it is still operated as part of Viacom's MTV Networks division. The channel is usually carried on the basic tiers of cable and satellite providers.

Nickelodeon HD
Nickelodeon HD is the on-air name for a feed provided by Nickelodeon to broadcast a limited schedule of programming (mainly the network's post-2008 live action series and some animation) in 1080i high definition, which is carried by most of the major American cable providers on a simulcast schedule that programs based on a Eastern/Central and a Pacific/Mountain schedule.

Nick 2
Nick 2 is the on-air name for a feed provided by Nickelodeon to digital cable providers that features either the Pacific/Mountain or Eastern/Central feed of the channel, giving viewers, depending on geographical location, a second chance to watch programming three hours after in the east, or to watch the show ahead of time three hours before the original airing in the west. The network was originally offered as part of the "MTV Networks Digital Suite" which was intended to offer digital cable providers exclusive channels not offered to satellite providers (though most of these channels now do air over those services also), and is currently the only example of two feeds provided by cable and IPTV providers to be offered to their customers. A Nick TOO logo was used on the channel until 2004, when MTV Networks decided to no longer customize the feed as Nick TOO; most television listings thus either show the additional channel under the brandings "Nickelodeon Pacific/NICKP" or "Nickelodeon Eastern/NICKE". DirecTV and Dish Network also offer both Nickelodeon feeds, though unbranded as most of their children's networks have both time zone feeds by default.

Nick on Demand
Nick on Demand is a free video-on-demand service available on most cable systems, carrying Nickelodeon's live-action, animated, and preschool programming. Nick at Nite programming is not included as most of the network's syndication rights are limited by contract to late evening and overnight time slots.

Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids
Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids (commonly referred to in on-air usage as Nickelodeon GAS or Nick GAS), was an American digital cable and satellite television channel that was launched on March 1, 1999 as part of MTV Networks' suite of digital cable channels. Nick GAS was essentially a children's version of (and Viacom's answer to) Game Show Network (now branded as GSN), which had launched in December 1994. The channel ceased operations on December 31, 2007 on digital cable providers and DirecTV, with an automated loop remaining on Dish Network due to unknown factors until April 23, 2009.

Ratings
For 2010, Nickelodeon finished in first place among all basic cable networks in total day for the 16th straight year among total viewers (ages 2+) and all kid demos, according to Nielsen Media Research. The fourth quarter of 2010 marked Nickelodeon's 59th consecutive quarter at #1, averaging 2.3 million total viewers and 3.5/1.2 million kids 2-11 and 3.1/664,000 kids 6-11 in 2010.

The iCarly special episode “iSaved Your Life” was projected to rank as basic cable’s top-rated entertainment telecast with total viewers (12.4 million) and with all kid and tween demos in 2010. The series also posted solid year to year gains with total viewers (+61%) and its key demos kids 6-11 (+81%), tweens 9-14 (+109%) and kids 2-11 (+52%) in 2010.

SpongeBob’s “Mystery with a Twistery” (Nov. 11) special was the year’s top animated telecast with kids 2-11 on TV (10.3/3.7 million K2-11, +129%), and basic cable’s number one animated series with 6.6 million total viewers (+122%).

Nickelodeon’s 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards continued to be a hit with kids and total viewers, drawing 8 million viewers P2+, and averaged a 10.9/3.9 K2-11. The Awards also scored the most votes in the show’s history—a record 118 million—and led Nick.com to its highest trafficked day ever.

Nick.com
Nick.com is Nickelodeon's main online portal.

Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies is the channel's motion picture production arm founded in 1995. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon animated programs including Rugrats and SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as other adaptations and original projects. The studio's films are released by Paramount Pictures. Nickelodeon Movies initially did not introduce a new logo when Nickelodeon's current logo came into effect as part of its September 2009 rebrand; Nickelodeon Movies eventually instituted a new logo on January 1, 2010, which made its debut with the release of the film The Last Airbender on July 1, 2010. The Last Airbender showed a version of the logo on fire while promoting the film. The official version of the logo premiered on Rango.

Nick Magazine
Nickelodeon Magazine was a magazine launched by Nickelodeon in 1993, following a short-lived effort from 1990. It contained informative non-fiction pieces, humor, interviews, pranks, recipes (such as green slime cake), and a comic book section in the center featuring original comics by leading underground cartoonists as well as strips about popular Nicktoons. In July 2009, Nickelodeon, in response to a hard-hit magazine industry, announced it would shut Nick Magazine down after 16 years; the final issue was published in December 2009.

Nickelodeon Universe
Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America is the largest in-door theme park in America. On August 18, 2009, Nickelodeon and Southern Star Amusement announced that the second Nickelodeon Universe will be located in New Orleans, Louisiana and have a tentative opening date by the end of 2010. It was set to be the first outdoor Nickelodeon Universe theme park, but on November 9, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that it had ended the licensing agreement with Southern Star Amusements.

Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Nickelodeon Animation Studios (formerly Games Animation) is the home of Nicktoons located in Burbank, California; it houses production of many current Nicktoons.

Nickelodeon On Sunset Studios
Nickelodeon On Sunset is the studio of production for series Nickelodeon.

Hotel brands

 * Nickelodeon Suites Resort is a Nickelodeon-themed hotel in Orlando, Florida, located near Universal Studios Resort and one mile (1.6 km) 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 Suites Resort also contains a Nick at Nite suite for adults.
 * Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott was a proposed hotel chain similar to the above Family Suites, featuring a 110000 sqft waterpark area and 650 hotel rooms. Announced in 2007, the first location was to open in San Diego in 2010 but was canceled in 2009 due to the economy. Plans for the remaining 19 hotels originally slated to open remain unclear.

Cruise

 * Nickelodeon at Sea is a series of Nickelodeon-themed cruise packages in partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line. These cruises feature special amenities and entertainment themed to various Nickelodeon properties.
 * Norwegian Cruise Line will also be hosting some Nickelodeon Cruises on the Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Epic, the event is known as "Nickelodeon at Sea".

Theme park areas
Almost all theme park areas themed to Nickelodeon are now closed:
 * Nickelodeon Universe was also an area inside of Kings Island featuring Nickelodeon-themed rides and attractions. The area was one of the largest areas in the park, and has been voted "Best Kid's Area" by Amusement Today magazine from 2001 to the area's closure in 2009.
 * Nickland is an area inside of Movie Park Germany featuring Nickelodeon-themed rides, including a SpongeBob SquarePants-themed "Splash Battle" ride, and a Jimmy Neutron-themed roller coaster. This area is currently being expanded to fill space formerly occupied with rides based on Warner Bros. characters.
 * Nickelodeon Studios was an attraction at Universal Orlando Resort that opened on June 7, 1990, and housed production for many Nickelodeon programs. It closed on April 30, 2005, after Nickelodeon's facilities were moved to New York City and Burbank, California. Nick Studios was replaced by the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre. Another Nickelodeon themed attraction at the Orlando park, Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, opened in 2003 and remains operating today, but will be closing permanently in August 2011.
 * Nickelodeon Central was an area inside of California's Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and Dreamworld that featured shows, attractions, and themes featuring the Nickelodeon characters. The only remaining Nickelodeon Central is in Dreamworld, located in Australia.
 * Nickelodeon Blast Zone was an area in Universal Studios Hollywood that featured attractions centered around Nickelodeon characters and themes. The four attractions that were present in the area were "Nickelodeon Splash", a waterpark-style area, 'The Wild Thornberrys Adventure Temple', a jungle-themed foam ball play area, and "Nick Jr. Backyard", a medium-sized toddler playground. This area closed in winter 2007 and has been rethemed to Curious George. Another attraction, "Rugrats Magic Adventure", was present at the opening of the area in 2001, but closed in 2002 to make way for Shrek 4-D.
 * Nickelodeon Splat City was an area inside California's Great America (1995–2002), Kings Island (1995–2000), and Kings Dominion (1995–1999), that featured attraction involving getting messy or wet. The slime refinery theme was carried out in the attractions such as the "Green Slime Zone Refinery", the "Crystal Slime Mining Maze", and the "Green Slime Transfer Truck". All of these areas were later transformed into either Nickelodeon Central or Nickelodeon Universe.
 * Nickelodeon Land opened on May 4th, 2011, in Pleasure Beach Blackpool, featuring several rides including SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar, Dora the Explorer and The Fairly OddParents.

International
In 1995, Nickelodeon only had international channels in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany in addition to the flagship American channel, but had created blocks or put their shows on other blocks in 70 countries. Since the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Nickelodeon as a brand has expanded into include language- or culture-specific Nickelodeon channels for various other territories in different parts of the world including Europe, the Middle-East, Russia, Asia, and recently Canada, and has licensed some of its cartoons and other content, in English and local languages, to TV and cable stations such as KI.KA and Super RTL in Germany, RTÉ Two (English speaking) and TG4 (Irish speaking) in Ireland, YTV (in English) and VRAK.TV (in French) in Canada, Canal J in France, Alpha Kids in Greece and CNBC-e in Turkey.

In addition to the flagship United States channel and the original international versions in the UK, Australia and Germany, as of early-March 2010, the channel also broadcasts in South East Asia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Cyprus, India, Italy, Israel, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Hungary, France, Russia, Greece Canada, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Africa, Brazil, Colombia and Latin America. A Japanese version of the channel had existed as well, but was shut down in 2009, though their website remains online. As of September 2010, Nickelodeon Japan now airs as a block on Animax, called Nick Time.

On October 11, 2006, Viacom's subsidiary MTV Networks Asia Pacific set up a new unit to manage Nickelodeon South East Asia TV based in Singapore. Nickelodeon was launched in Singapore and expanded its services in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Polynesia. In the present, Nickelodeon Philippines, Nickelodeon Pakistan, and Nickelodeon India started working independently. They started their new website, Nicksplat.com in 2003. On April 1, 2011, Nickelodeon will launch a dedicated feed to Filipino kids.

In India, Nickelodeon is available on the One Alliance bouquet, through the Dish TV and Tata Sky DTH services. In the Philippines, it is available on SkyCable Gold, Silver and Platinum channel 45, Sun Cable channel 34 and Global Destiny Cable channel 52. In Hong Kong, it is available on now TV, while in Malaysia, it is available over Astro via Channel 612. In Singapore, it is available over StarHub TV and in Indonesia, Nickelodeon is available on Astro Nusantara channel 14, Global TV, a free-to-air television channel, and is also broadcast on Indovision channel 33.In Pakistan Nickelodeon is available on PTCL Smart TV, WorldCall CATV AND Southern Networks as well as on the Pakistan Satellite Paksat-1

A pan-Arabia version of Nickelodeon has been relaunched in 2008, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. From 1996 to 2002, it used to be on the Showtime Arabia and Orbit satellite services, until is was removed. The Polish version of Nickelodeon had launched on July 10, 2008 in Platform N, replacing a Polish feed of Nickelodeon Russia that was banned in 2002.

In September 2009, Corus Entertainment, owners of YTV and Treehouse TV, announced that they would launch Nickelodeon Canada on November 2. Before that and since then, YTV has served as a de facto outlet for Nickelodeon's programming in Canada, and also brands a Sunday morning block called Nickelodeon Sundays.

There is also a Nickelodeon theme park inside the Mall of America, in Minnesota.