Nicktoons (American TV channel)

Nicktoons is an American pay television channel and sister service to Nickelodeon. It was launched in 2002, and is named after Nicktoons, which is the brand used for Nick’s original animated programming. Both Nicktoons and Nickelodeon are owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. The channel is geared towards children aged 7 to 11.
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.
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 sunset to a parking page directing viewers to Nick.com before it was eventually redirected quietly to the latter website.
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, Fanboy & Chum Chum, Making Fiends, Harvey Beaks, It's Pony, The Legend of Korra, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, The Mighty B!, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, Planet Sheen, Robot and Monster, T.U.F.F. Puppy, The Penguins of Madagascar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 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. 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.
From 2005 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 (inspired by the network's then-slogan of the same name), 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.