Nickelodeon is a French

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel and is the local variant of the American children's network

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 ...

in France, as well as in other French-speaking countries such as of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Francophone Africa African French () is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the French language spoken throughout Francophone Africa. Used mainly as a secondary language or ''lingua franca'', it is spoken by an estimated 320 million people across 34 coun ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Overseas France Overseas France (, also ) consists of 13 France, French territories outside Europe, mostly the remnants of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonisation. Most are part of the E ...

, and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. The network has two sister networks, Nickelodeon Junior and

Nickelodeon Teen Nickelodeon Teen (formerly Nickelodeon 4Teen) is a French pay television channel owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. It is the French equivalent of TeenNick, though with its French branding meeting domestic language policies, along with "Nick" s ...

. The network is solely branded as "Nickelodeon" in

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

regions, with the common branding shortening of "Nick" used in all other markets completely unused due to "Nick" sounding similar to the French

swear word Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such as anger, ex ...

'' niquer''.

History

On 10 January 2003, Nicktoons was launched as a programming block in France on

Canal J Canal J (stylised as canal J, ) is a French pay television channel dedicated to children's programming. It is aimed at children aged 7 to 12. On 1 February 2019, M6 Group entered negotiations to acquire the television unit of Lagardère Ac ...

. The French variant of Nickelodeon was announced in 2005, and was officially launched on 16 November of that same year. The channel's application to broadcast on French digital terrestrial television was rejected by the CSA in favor of

Gulli Gulli (; stylised as gulli) is a French free-to-air television channel focused on kids' programming for those aged 3 to 14. It was created as a result of a partnership between Lagardère Active and state-owned broadcaster France Télévisions. ...

, a child-oriented channel (launched as a joint-venture between the

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. Based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the group was founded and created in 1992 by Jean-Luc Lagardère under the name Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed ...

and the public broadcaster

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

). It gained revenue through advertisement and product sales.. At the time, its market value was equal to €300 million. According to research conducted by ConsoJunior in 2006, Nickelodeon France was the most-watched channel among children between 4 and 14 years old.. During this time, the channel premiered series from the American channel such as ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'', '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and ''

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 ...

''. Thereafter, during the first half of 2007, Nickelodeon increased its audience share by 113% over a year. Due to this, some French celebrities such as

Matt Pokora Matthieu Tota (; born 26 September 1985), artistically known as Matt Pokora and later M. Pokora (), is a French pop singer. He is very well known for his catchy melodies and smooth vocals. Pokora mostly sings in French but he has also recorded ...

started to appear on the channel as hosts. On 26 January 2010, Nickelodeon France adopted the new logo and rebranded its graphical package. On that same day, the preschool channel Nickelodeon Junior was launched. In November of that same year, the network celebrated its fifth anniversary. On 20 September 2011, it switched its aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. In May 2013, Nickelodeon announced the release of two new video games of ''Dora the Explorer'', in association with

2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several developme ...

. From 28 June to 12 July 2013, the channel organized the Crazy Tour Nickelodeon in six malls in France. On 6 September 2014, Nickelodeon France premiered ''

Rabbids Invasion ''Rabbids Invasion'' () is a French-American animated television series based on Ubisoft's '' Rabbids'' video game series. It is a co-production of Ubisoft Film & Television, TeamTO and France Télévisions. The show was developed by Jean-Lou ...

'', an original series of the channel. On 19 November 2014, Nickelodeon 4Teen was launched, with its programming being centered on series for teenagers. It was rebranded as

in 2017. On 22 September 2015, Nickelodeon HD was launched on

Canalsat Canal+ is a French subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and subscription TV provider. The TV provider was established as CanalSatellite in 1992 and later rebranding to CanalSat and the streaming service was launched a ...

. In March 2016, Nickelodeon +1 was launched, replacing the timeshift feed of MTV, MTV +1. In 2019, Nickelodeon channels were launched on French ISP bouquets, ending their exclusivity on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

. In January 2021, Nickelodeon, J-One and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

were added to the

Mauritius Telecom Mauritius Telecom (MT) is a telecommunications company in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The company had about 392,000 fixed line customers, 969,000 mobile customers, 404,000 fibre-ready homes, 178,000 IPTV customers, and 255,000 ...

's My.t offers.

Sister channels

Nickelodeon Junior

Nickelodeon Junior was first launched as a block on Nickelodeon and became a separate 24-hour digital television channel on 26 January 2010.

Nickelodeon Teen

Nickelodeon 4Teen was launched on 19 November 2014, broadcasting in HD and focusing on live-action shows for a tween and teen audiences. On 26 August 2017, the channel was rebranded as Nickelodeon Teen. On 15 July 2025, the channel will rebrand as a France variant of Nicktoons known as Nickelodeon Toon.

N-Toons

N-Toons, formerly known as Nicktoons, was a block on the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

network

, which launched the

brand in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A separate network launched to carry Nickelodeon in 2005 and the Canal J block was rebranded as ''N-Toons''. The block later returned on 21 October 2011, which run until 31 July 2015 on the French version of Nickelodeon Wallonia.

Notes

References

External links

* (closed and redirects to nick.com/global)
Nickelodeon Junior France
(also redirects to nick.com/global) {{Television in France Nickelodeon 2005 establishments in France French-language television in Switzerland French-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 2005 Television stations in France Television stations in Lebanon Television stations in Morocco Television stations in Switzerland Television stations in Tunisia