Nicktoons (American TV channel)

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

## Nicktoons

### Headquarters

One Astor Plaza
New York City, New York, United States

## Programming

### Picture format

1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)

## Ownership

### Sister channels

Nickelodeon
Nick at Nite
TeenNick
Nick Jr.
NickMusic

## History

### Launched

02002-05-01-0000May 1, 2002; 18 years ago

### Former names

Nicktoons TV (2002–03)
Nicktoons Network (2005–09)

**Nicktoons** (also known as **Nicktoons Network**) is an American pay television channel that is owned by ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks. Geared towards children aged 7–14, the channel broadcasts original animated series from sister network Nickelodeon, known as Nicktoons, along with other original animated series, some feature films, and foreign animated programs from Nickelodeon's international networks 24 hours a day.

As of September 2019, approximately 70 million American households (51.3% of households with television) received Nicktoons.

## History

In 1991, Nicktoons was originally launched as a programming block on Nickelodeon, airing animated series. The block lasted until 2002.

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 June 6, 2005, as the network's distribution increased, the network began to carry regular advertising.

On September 28, 2009, the network's logo changed as part of Nickelodeon's universal rebranding effort that also saw Nickelodeon's first logo change in 25 years, and name changes for sister networks: The N to TeenNick and Noggin to Nick Jr.

An HD 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
Nicktoons has aired pretty much all of Nickelodeon series since launch. Despite its name, the channel does not exclusively air Nicktoons. The channel also airs some of Nickelodeon's live action series, such as *The Thundermans* and *Henry Danger*. Due to Nickelodeon moving a lot of newer content to the channel, all the older Nicktoons, such as *Hey Arnold!* and *The Ren and Stimpy Show*, were removed from the schedule. However, *Rugrats* aired on the channel occasionally. As of August 2020, the Nicktoons series that still remain are mostly more modern content, along with reruns of *SpongeBob SquarePants* and *The Fairly OddParents*.

### 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*, *SpongeBob SquarePants* 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

### Current channels

* United States – launched on May 1, 2002
* UK and Ireland – launched on July 22, 2002
* Netherlands – launched in 2007
* Germany – launched in March 2010
* Latin America – launched on February 4, 2013
* Africa – launched on September 30, 2014
* Scandinavia – launched in 2017
* Arabia – launched on February 15, 2017
* Turkey – launched on February 20, 2017
* Russia – launched in December 2018
* Poland – launched on 15 February 2018
* Hungary and Romania – launched on 15 April 2019
* Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania - launched on 14 July 2020

### Defunct feeds

* 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

### Nick HD+

**Nick HD+** is the Indian Pay TV channel that airs many Nickelodeon animated series from Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It airs all the Nicktoons programming and similar to Nicktoons channel. More than 40 of the Nickelodeon animated series were available on Voot streaming service.

## 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.