Nicktoons (British and Irish TV channel)
Nicktoons is a British pay television channel launched on 22 July 2002 as Nicktoons TV. It is a cartoon-centric sister channel to Nickelodeon. The channel airs Nickelodeon's original animated series, as with all of the Nickelodeon networks domestically.
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| Country |
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|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
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| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English Irish |
| Picture format | 16:9 576i SDTV |
| Timeshift service | Nicktoons Replay (replaced by Nick Jr. +1 since October 2012) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Nickelodeon UK Ltd. (Paramount Networks UK & Australia)[1] |
| Sister channels | Nickelodeon Nick Jr. Channel |
| History | |
| Launched | 22 July 2002 |
| Former names | Nicktoons TV (July 2002–October 2004) Nick SpongeBob (September 2022–October 2022; March 2023–April 2023; June 2023–July 2023; July 2023–August 2023) Nick Horrid Henry (October 2022–November 2022) Nick Loud House (July 2023) |
| Links | |
| Website | www.nicktoons.co.uk (closed) |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| See separate section | |
History
On 19 July 2002, Nick Jr. moved to channel 624 on Sky, to vacate its original 606 number for Nicktoons to launch on the following Monday. It showed a static screen with the Nicktoons logo and a notice displaying Nick Jr.'s new slot.[2] Nicktoons launched on 22 July 2002 as "Nicktoons TV".
On 12 October 2004, Nicktoons TV was rebranded to Nicktoons. The rebrand featured the Pixel characters as the channel's first mascots, designed by Slomo Productions and directed by Filipe Alcada.[3]
On 17 February 2007, there was another rebrand featuring 4 mascots; Rooftop (a moose), Beat (a mouse/rat), Colin (a brain) and Spoon (a humanlike creature), designed by Studio AKA.[4] The new 'worldwide rebrand' logo for Nicktoons was introduced on 30 April 2010, with a new imaging campaign introduced on 11 February 2012. On 21 June 2013, some new idents made by Stu Gamble and StudioEDP titled "30 Seconds Of Fame" or just "30SOF" for short were introduced, featuring a singing monster-like person 'moving his body to the beat' to Space Funk by Jeffrey W Wade & Ruben Ayala (Minimal Dancer), a rapping grandad and a dog (G-Daddy), an Octopus who is a musician (Rocktopuss), a girl with a British accent reading a book of which being Little Red Riding Hood with her 'big gob' (Gobby Girl) and a singing blob who sings the song Bopalopalama Dipdip by David Bronze & Josh Phillips (Doo-Wop Blob). These idents came along with the 2014 rebrand as well, with another batch being named "30 Seconds Of Fame 2" or just "30SOF 2" for short in 2015. However, these idents were discontinued in 2021, though they are still currently in use on Nicktoons Global. On 3 November 2014, there were new idents introduced with the eyes and faces of characters from shows.
In the autumn of 2022, the network took on several temporary brandings reflected in electronic program guides in concert with month-long marathons of several series, including Nick SpongeBob, Nick Horrid Henry[5][6] and Nick Loud House.
On 31 October 2022, Sky sold its stake in Nickelodeon UK, including Nicktoons, to Paramount.[1]
Sister channels
Nicktoonsters
On 18 August 2008, a new spin-off channel to Nicktoons was launched under the title of Nicktoonsters. The channel was exclusive to Sky. The channel broadcast older programming which was dropped from the main Nicktoons schedule prior to launch. It took up half the time of a channel space shared with Comedy Central Extra +1.[7] The channel closed on 31 July 2009 and was replaced with a 1-hour timeshift of Nicktoons, Nicktoons Replay on 1 August 2009.
Nicktoons Replay
A +1 feed of Nicktoons known as Nicktoons Replay launched in place of Nicktoonsters on 1 August 2009.[8] It was known as Nicktoons +1. The channel was discontinued 1 October 2012, with Comedy Central Extra +1 again in full control of the channel slot's airtime. Nicktoons Replay's old EPG position was used to launch a one-hour timeshift of Nick Jr., titled Nick Jr. +1.
Nicktoons Ireland
On 13 September 2012, it was announced that Sky would be launching an Irish feed of Nicktoons.[9] It launched on 16 October 2012.
Programming
Programming blocks
In 2004, when Nicktoons TV extended its hours, the 19:00 – 22:00 slot was called Toonz2Nite (extended further to 23:00 in November 2005). This had a separate, distinct presentation from the main channel, and the programmes shown were generally aimed at older children. The network began airing shows from NickSplat on 9 January 2017 until they stopped for unknown reasons around February 2017.
Logos
2004 until 2007
2007 until 2010
30 April 2010 until 1 November 2014- Since 1 November 2014
See also
References
- "NICKELODEON U.K. LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity". Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- "NickToons added to EPG; Nick Jr. moves". Digital Spy. 19 July 2002. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
- "NickToons – Re-brand". Slomo Productions. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- "NICKTOONS REFACE, Cinema promo (ref: p14)" (PDF). Stash DVD Magazine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- "Nickelodeon UK to Launch SpongeBob Pop-Up Channel in September 2022".
- "Nickelodeon UK to Launch 'Horrid Henry' Pop-Up Channel in October 2022".
- Licence Details for Nick Toonsters Archived 5 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- "Implementation – Nicktoons ReplayB". AGB Nielsen Media. 8 July 2009.
- "Digital marketing integral to SMEs". Irish Independent. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
