Nickelodeon (British and Irish TV channel)
Nickelodeon (commonly shortened to Nick) is a British pay television network aimed at children aged under 18. It is operated under a joint venture between Paramount and Sky Group. On 1 September 1993, a localised version of the US channel launched in the United Kingdom and launched at a later date in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the channel is available on Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk Plus TV. In Ireland, the channel is available on Virgin Media Ireland, Eir TV and Sky Ireland. It is the first Nickelodeon feed launched overseas. History. Nickelodeon  was launched in the UK on 1 September 1993 exclusively on Sky, originally airing for 12 hours and showing both cartoons and live action series. The British version of Nick Jr. also launched in the channel's first year, initially for 3 hours from 9am to 12noon on weekdays, later becoming 10:30am to 2:30pm. Off-air, Nickelodeon would air static logos, schedule information and teletext. Live presentation followed in 1994, branded as "Nick Alive!". From October 1995, it started to timeshare with Paramount Channel. In 1996, Nickelodeon reached an agreement with CBBC to show a block of CBBC programmes  for one hour before and one hour after Nick Jr., called "CBBC on Nickelodeon". This block lasted until 1998. When Sky Digital was launched in 1998, Nickelodeon was in the original channel line-up on Astra 2A, and Nickelodeon was aired for three more hours. However, analogue-satellite services continued to shutdown Nickelodeon at 7pm each day until analogue satellite was discontinued in 2001. In 1999, Nick Jr. launched as a 14-hour standalone channel on analogue and digital pay TV and subsequently the block was taken off Nickelodeon in July 2000 (but shortly reintroduced in 2005). Nicktoons was  launched in the UK and Ireland in 2002. During the end of 2004, Telewest failed to reach an agreement to broadcast Nickelodeon, Nicktoons and Nick Jr. on the after 2005 and the channels were removed from Telewest on 17 December, leading to many Telewest customers leaving for Sky and NTL, while Telewest customers either received a free upgrade to Disney Channel or to Sky Cinema to prevent customers from leaving Telewest. By the next year, however, Nickelodeon successfully renegotiated with Telewest and the channels were restored. In February 2010, Nickelodeon adopted the worldwide rebrand. The TeenNick block also adopted the  American identity. In April 2010, Nicktoons and Nick Jr. took on their rebrand logos. Nickelodeon HD was launched in October 2010 on Sky. Later, it was picked up by Virgin Media. Ownership. The Nickelodeon channels available in the UK and in Ireland are operated through a joint venture with Paramount International Networks (PIN) and Sky Group trading as Nickelodeon UK Ltd. PIN holds majority in shares (60%). Subsidiary and sister channels. Nick Jr.. Nick Jr. first appeared in the UK and Ireland from 1995, between 9am – 3pm on weekday school days on the main Nickelodeon UK channel. On  1 September 1999, Nick Jr. launched on Sky, allowing the channel to broadcast all day. Nick Jr. shows programming aimed at pre-school children, which was previously shown during the daytime on the main channel, but this strand has long since been dropped (though it was reintroduced briefly during 2005). Nick Jr. originally timeshared with MTV Dance when that channel launched in early 2001, though this ceased some time ago, with MTV Dance having gone 24 hours since then. Nicktoons. On 22 July 2002, Nicktoons was launched, airing Nicktoons, as well as other cartoons, throughout the day. Nick Jr. Too . On 24 April 2006, Nick Jr. Too was launched. It broadcasts Nick Jr. shows on a different schedule from the main Nick Jr. channel. Nick +1, Nicktoons Replay and Nick Jr. +1. On 1 September 1999, a one-hour time shift of Nickelodeon was initially launched on Sky. It is available on Sky 620, Virgin Media Ireland 605 and Virgin Media 713. The channel originally launched as Nick Replay but was rebranded as Nick +1 on 2 October 2012. A one-hour timeshift of Nicktoons, Nicktoons Replay, was also available on Sky channel 630. The timeshift channel replaced the Nicktoons  spin off sister channel Nicktoonsters. Nick Jr. +1 launched on 2 October 2012, replacing Nicktoons Replay, which closed the previous day. The timeshift channel is available on Nicktoons Replay's previous space. Nickelodeon Ireland. In 2004, The channel launched an Irish advertising feed for Nickelodeon. An Irish feed for Nick Jr. was launched in 2006. On 13 September 2012, it was announced that Sky would be launching an Irish feed of NickToons on 16 October 2012. All Nickelodeon channels available in Ireland now host Irish advertising and sponsorship. Nicktoonsters. On 18 August 2008, Nicktoonsters was launched. Its licence first appeared  on the Ofcom website in September 2007 (initially named "Nicktoons 2", and changed to Nicktoonsters on 3 July 2008). The channel closed on 31 July 2009 and was replaced with a one-hour timeshift of Nicktoons on 1 August 2009. Programming. Over the years the network has produced series including "Genie in the House" (2006–2009), "Summer in Transylvania" (2010–2012) , Goldie’s Oldies (2021-) and Overlord and the Underwoods (2021-). Apart from local continuity programming including "Camp Orange" and Nickelodeon Slimefest, Nickelodeon UK mainly airs imported programming from the US network. "House of Anubis" (2011-2013) and It’s Pony (2020- ) were created in the UK, but were produced for the American channel and premiered in the US market first. Kids' Choice Awards. Traditionally, the Kids' Choice Awards in the United Kingdom and Ireland before 2007 included only an airing of the original ceremony from the USA. Nickelodeon UK from then on held a full ceremony for two years in 2007 and 2008 which included a fully local slate of categories and was held at the ExCeL London. No ceremony or UK-specific awards were held in 2009 after network budget cuts, and since 2010 only a few local categories are  voted by children in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which are awarded each year by Nickelodeon presenters as continuity during the airing of the American ceremony on a one-day delay. Nickelodeon Land. Nickelodeon Land is a section of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach resort in Blackpool which is a section of the park featuring themed Nickelodeon attractions and souvenirs. The Nickelodeon Land section of the park opened in April 2011.