Nicktoons is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Viacom Kids & Family Group, a unit of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom. The channel broadcasts original animated series from sister network Nickelodeon, known as Nicktoons, along with other original animated series and foreign animated programs from Nickelodeon's international networks 24 hours a day.

As of February 2015, approximately 66.5 million American households (57.2% of households with television) receive Nicktoons.

History

Nicktoons was launched 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 which had previously been used on Nickelodeon taking up commercial time. By June 6, 2005, as the network's distribution increased, the network began airing regular advertising.

Nickelodeon Germany (German: Nickelodeon Deutschland) , known on-air only as Nickelodeon, is a television channel for kids in Germany, part of the international Nickelodeon franchise. Launched on 2005, Nickelodeon Germany is based in Berlin. The channel is available on cable and an unscrambled, free-to-air (FTA) satellite signal. On 31 March 2010 the channel adopted the name Nickelodeon on-screen and off-line. There was also a new logo. Nick Premium was rebranded Nicktoons.

History

Nickelodeon 1995–1998

The original version of Nickelodeon was launched on July 5, 1995 and aired the first time 6 hours per day. Finally, Nickelodeon was on the air from 6:00am until 8:00pm, when VH-1 Germany took over. The channel was a failure and continually lost money, this being a result of weak advertising sales and the inability to compete against its more successful rival, Der Kinderkanal. As a result, Nickelodeon closed on May 31, 1998 and VH-1 took over the entire channel space. Nickelodeon soon thereafter struck a deal with RTL's owner the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion to broadcast their programming on RTL's own children's channel, Super RTL (which, ironically, was a joint venture between RTL and Disney) in addition to a weekend morning Nicktoons block on the main RTL channel. After VH-1 Germany shut down in 2001 (and was replaced by a pan-European feed on a separate channel), it was replaced with MTV2 Pop.