Nicktoons (American TV channel)

This article is about the American television channel. For the animated series branding from Nickelodeon, see Nicktoons.

Nicktoons 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.

Nicktoons

Logo used since January 1, 2024
Country	United States
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Headquarters	One Astor Plaza New York, New York, U.S.
Programming
Language(s)	English Spanish (via SAP audio track)
Picture format	1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	Paramount Global
Parent	Paramount Media Networks
Sister channels	List Nickelodeon Nick Jr. TeenNick
History
Launched	May 1, 2002 (2002-05-01)
Former names	Nicktoons TV (2002–03) Nicktoons Network (2005–09)
Links
Website	www.nick.com
Availability
Streaming media
Affiliated Streaming Service	Paramount+
YouTube TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream, Philo, Hulu + Live TV

As of December 2023, 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.

Evolution of Nickelodeon

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

History

Wordmark used from September 23, 2005 to September 28, 2009

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. 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.

On September 28, 2009, the network's logo changed as part of Nickelodeon's universal rebranding effort. A high-definition feed was launched on August 13, 2013, and is available on several providers. 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 sunsetted, recommending viewers go to Nick.com instead before eventually being fully redirected to the Nick.com domain.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Nicktoons

Since its inception, Nicktoons has mainly aired programs carried over from the main Nickelodeon channel. Despite its name, the channel does not exclusively air Nicktoons, and has occasionally aired some of Nickelodeon's live-action series, such as The Thundermans and Henry Danger.

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).

NickSports

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. 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. Sometime in 2015, the block was moved to a Friday prime time slot. The block ended in September 2018.

International versions

Active channels

• UK and Ireland – launched on 22 July 2002
• Netherlands – launched in 2007
• Germany – launched in March 2010
• Africa – launched on September 30, 2014
• Scandinavia – launched on February 1, 2017
• Arabia – launched on February 15, 2017
• Turkey – launched on February 20, 2017
• Poland – launched on 15 February 2018
• Hungary and Romania – launched on 15 April 2019
• Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania - launched on 14 July 2020
• Australia - launched on 1 August 2023 (FAST channel on 10Play)
• Canada - launched on December 22, 2023 (FAST channel on Pluto TV)

Defunct channels

• France – launched on January 1, 2003, as a programming block on Canal J, rebranded as N-Toons on October 21, 2011, and closed down on July 31, 2015
• Latin America – launched on February 4, 2013, and closed down in late 2020, being replaced in major cable providers by the US feed of NickMusic
• Russia – launched on December 12, 2018, and closed down on April 28, 2022 because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Mascot

From 2006 until 2009, Nicktoons Network used a robot mascot in bumpers and advertisements for the channel. 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." ACOW was prominently featured on the NicktoonsNetwork.com website and was used as part of the "Nicktoons Network: Animation Capital of the World" logo. Several similar-looking eyeball-based characters were seen in promos for the network.

See also

• Noggin
• N-Toons
• Nicktoonsters
• NickRewind

External links

• 2016 Decider's Oral History of "Nicktoons" interviews with cast and crew