Nick Jr. is a 24-hour children's pay television

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

in Australia and New Zealand designed for pre-schoolers. Nick Jr. was a morning

programming block Block programming (also known as a strand in British broadcasting) is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

until 2004, when

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

as a local feed of its American counterpart. launched it as a full 24-hour kids channel. The channel is owned by

Paramount Networks UK & Australia Paramount Networks UK & Australia, formerly ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia, is a division of Paramount Global launched on 14 January 2020. It is based in London, England, with a local office in Sydney, Australia. Units See also * Plut ...

, and was also available on

Optus Television Optus Television is the cable television division of Australian telecommunications company Optus. History Its immediate predecessor was Optus Vision, a joint venture between Optus and Continental Cablevision, with small shareholdings by med ...

History

Before Nick Jr. officially launched as a 24-hour TV channel, it was part of

's morning line-up which included such shows as ''

Blue's Clues ''Blue's Clues'' is an American interactive educational television, educational children's television series created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, and Angela Santomero, Angela C. Santomero. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block ...

'', ''

Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American media franchise centered on an eponymous animated interactive fourth wall children's television series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner, and produced by Nickelodeon Animation ...

'' and ''

LazyTown ''LazyTown'' () is an Icelandic children's educational musical television series created by aerobics champion Magnús Scheving. Originally produced in English, it has been broadcast in dozens of languages globally. Designed to encourage health ...

'', the block itself was also joined by a presenter known as "Face" which presented the Australian-input from 1998 until 2006, the Australian-input was also the last of the few international Nick Jr. block to have Face being replaced, as others stopped using him by 2004 and 2005, the actor who voiced the Australian dubbed Face is currently unknown. On 21 January 2004,

announced a brand new digital service along with new channel line-ups which included Nick Jr. On 14 March 2004, Nick Jr. officially launched to be the first 24-hour Australian kids channel to play shows suited for pre-schoolers. For a few months after Nick Jr. became a full channel, it kept a two-hour time slot on Nickelodeon in the mornings from 8:00am until 10:00am, but the time allocated to the block was far shorter than it was before it became a full channel. The channel introduced some original short-form programming, including ''

Cooking for Kids with Luis ''Cooking for Kids with Luis'' is an Australian short-form cooking show for preschoolers, co-produced by Total Perception Productions and Nickelodeon Australia. It premiered on Nick Jr. Australia in 2004. The show is hosted by 6-year-old Luis T ...

'' and ''

Gardening for Kids with Madi Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of aesthetically pleasing areas, medicine ...

''. The channel used the new Nick Jr. logo from Friday 26 March 2010. From 2004 until 2010, the channel used a localised logo with two kangaroos with the tradition of 'Nick' (representing the adult) and 'Jr.' (as the child). During the time Nickelodeon had a separate channel in New Zealand, it had a Nick Jr. block running from 9:30 am to 2 pm from Monday to Wednesday, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm on Thursday and Friday and 6:30 am to 8 am on weekends. After the closure of the New Zealand feed, the Australian feed of Nick Jr. launched in New Zealand on 24 December 2010. On 29 February 2012, a 60-second anthem aired. On 3 December 2013, Nick Jr. became available on Foxtel's streaming service

Foxtel Go NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

. On 1 January 2014, Nick Jr. launched on Australian IPTV provider

FetchTV Fetch TV is an Australian IPTV provider that offers a subscription television service over a user's regular internet connection. It is majority owned by Telstra, who acquired a 51.4% stake in the company on the 2nd of August 2022. Fetch TV was ...

. The channel aired for a time as a two-hour block in the afternoons on Sky Television in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, until this ceased in 2013. On 1 August 2023, Nick Jr. was removed from Foxtel following an announcement that 10 Shake would rebrand as

on the same day, with selected programmes being shifted to that channel and was replaced by Nick Jr. Global. Fetch TV continues to broadcast the channel in Australia, and a variant of the channel is offered as a FAST channel on 10Play.

Logos

Image:Nick Jr Australia.svg, Logo used from 2007 to 2010 with two

Kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s, the national animal of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Image:Nick Jr. logo 2009.svg, Logo used since 2010

Presenters

* Face (14 March 2004 – 2006), (1998–2006, block) * Ollie the Australian Muppet (2004–2013)

References

External links

* {{Subscription television channels in Australia

1998 establishments in Australia 1998 establishments in New Zealand 2004 establishments in New Zealand 2004 establishments in Australia Children's television channels in Australia Commercial-free television networks in Australia English-language television stations in Australia English-language television stations in New Zealand Television channels and stations established in 1998 Television channels and stations established in 2004