Nickelodeon is an Arabic

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 for kids that is exclusively available on Emirati satellite provider OSN. It is the official Arabic-localised variant of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

and until 2011, it was the last remaining channel to retain the 'splat' logo that was used from 1984 to 2009 in the United States.

History

Nickelodeon's pan-Asian feed was initially launched in the Middle East on 16 July 1996 on

Showtime Arabia Showtime Arabia was Showtime Networks' pay television service in the Middle East and North Africa. It was a joint venture between Kuwaiti holding company KIPCO (79% stake) and American media firm Viacom Inc. (21% stake). The company was incorp ...

, although at the time it was solely available in English. A standalone feed for Middle Eastern audiences was launched on 23 July 2008 with Arabic and English audio tracks. Nickelodeon was the first international children's television network to establish an Arabic language service. It was the second channel in the joint venture between Viacom International Media Networks and

Arabian Television Network Arabian Television Network (ATN) was a Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based broadcast media company, part of Arab Media Group. Its staff and resources have been merged into Dubai Media Incorporated. Arabian Television Network had partnered with MTV ...

, part of

Arab Media Group Arab Media Group (AMG) is a Dubai, United Arab Emirates based entertainment company and a strategic business vertical of Dubai Holding. AMG covers radio broadcasting, event management, and family entertainment. AMG is an engaging premier integrat ...

, the largest media group in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

, after the successful launch for MTV Arabia (later known as

MTV Middle East MTV Middle East, formerly MTV Arabia, was a free-to-air music television channel, and the Middle Eastern incarnation of MTV. As an addition to the MTV network, it was a joint venture between MTV Networks International and Arabian Television Net ...

). The website was nickarabia.net. By 2011, it was the only Nickelodeon channel worldwide that had not changed its logo from the orange splat to the orange text after the mother company's 2009 rebrand. Since late 2010, the channel had been suffering a frozen broadcast, broadcasting its usual programmes repetitively without any evidence of upcoming updates. Its official website went down, and there were no clear indications or citations for why the channel was being heavily neglected, albeit oddly remaining live for the time being. Regardless, the channel remained live for many months into 2011. A similar situation was happening with its sister channel MTV Arabia. On 8 September 2011, at one minute past midnight in U.A.E. time, and without a mainstream warning, the channel closed and went on an indefinite hiatus without any explanation. The broadcast signal initially displayed a static message indicating Nickelodeon Arabia's viewers to continue watching Nickelodeon programmes via the Nickelodeon block on

MBC 3 MBC 3 is a free-to-air children's channel launched on 8 December 2004, and appeals to children under the age of 15. All foreign television animated programs have been dubbed into Arabic. The channel also produces its own original programmes. It ...

. The signal then reverted to a casual

test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

a few days later, and the channel was de-listed by various satellite television providers before the signal itself disappeared completely. On 17 December 2014, it was announced that Viacom International Media Networks would launch a related feed of Nickelodeon Arabia (also in HD) on the Dubai-based pay-TV service OSN, along with a Nick Jr. channel. Both channels launched on 5 January 2015 in Arabic only, but later launched an additional English audio track in February 2015. A dedicated Nickelodeon website, social media accounts and an exclusive Nick app were launched. In 2018, Viacom merged official websites of Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and African versions of Nickelodeon into nick.tv.

Related channels

Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. is a satellite channel for Arab kids that airs Nick Jr. pre-school shows dubbed in Arabic. The channel launched on January 5, 2015, at 10:00 am on OSN along with Nickelodeon Arabia. It also has an English audio.

NickToons

Nicktoons is a satellite channel for Arab kids that airs animated Nickelodeon shows dubbed in Arabic. It airs reruns of old Nickelodeon programming in Arabic. The channel launched on February 15, 2017, on OSN. Nicktoons Arabia uses Nicktoons UK & Ireland's 2014 on-air broadcast design package produced by "Beautiful Creative". It also has an English audio.

TeenNick

TeenNick is a video on demand channel for Arab kids that airs Nickelodeon's live-action TV series. It airs reruns of old and new Nickelodeon programming in English with Arabic subtitles. The channel launched on April 15, 2017, on OSN PLAY.

Programming

The animated shows currently airing on Nickelodeon Arabia are in Arabic and English. The live-action TeenNick shows originally aired in English with Arabic subtitles. However, original social shows produced by Nickelodeon Arabia's own studio, such as ''Shoof Kids'' and ''Jamaatna'', were also in Arabic. Most of the network shows were outdated, older series at the time that have already been cancelled or have ended before their debut, with the exception of SpongeBob SquarePants, although they are considered fairly never-before-seen by most of the Arab audience at one time, in either their English or Arabic formats. There were even several series yet to debut on Nickelodeon Arabia, with exception of ''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant h ...

'', which apparently already settled on Disney Channel Arabia in 2006, and settled on Nicktoons Arabia years later in 2017. ''Fairly OddParents'' characters would appear in activity segments from

Nickelodeon Magazine ''Nickelodeon Magazine'' is a defunct American children's magazine inspired by the children's television network Nickelodeon. Its first incarnation appeared in 1990 and was distributed at participating Pizza Hut restaurants; the version of the ma ...

cutouts. Like most Arab channels, Nickelodeon was subject to censorship, but this is by far limited to simply scenes of

French kiss A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are se ...

ing, although any mention of said kisses are retained. This was similar to the censorship on

MTV Arabia MTV Middle East, formerly MTV Arabia, was a free-to-air music television channel, and the Middle Eastern incarnation of MTV. As an addition to the MTV network, it was a joint venture between MTV Networks International and Arabian Television Netw ...

, but after the relaunch, there is no censorship. In 2018, Nickelodeon Arabia premiered the

Nick India Nickelodeon (abbreviated as Nick) is an Indian children's pay television network based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is the Indian equivalent to the original American Network and is owned by Viacom18, a joint venture between Paramount Globa ...

original, ''

Motu Patlu ''Motu Patlu'' is an Indian animated sitcom created by Harvinder Mankkar and written by Niraj Vikram that premiered on Nickelodeon in India on 16 October 2012. The series is produced by Cosmos-Maya Studios and Viacom 18. It is adapted from the ...

''.

Original programming on Nickelodeon's older Channel

Catch Match

''Catch Match'' (كاتش ماتش) was an original show for Nickelodeon Arabia that was renewed every holy month of Ramadan. It was a kids' game show that had two opposing teams compete in a variety of physical challenges to gain the most points. This show was hosted by the announcer Taj Aser, and was filmed on location in Jeddah.

Shoof Kids

''Shoof Kids'' was an original show that featured home-made videos sent in by viewers.

References

External links

Official Arabic websiteOfficial English websiteOfficial YouTube Channel
{{ArabicChildTV

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...