NickMusic

NickMusic
Launched
  • May 1, 2002 (2002-05-01) (as MTV Hits)
  • September 9, 2016 (2016-09-09) (as NickMusic)
Owned by Viacom Media Networks (Viacom)
Picture format 480i 4:3 (SDTV) presented in 16:9 letterbox
Slogan Where music comes to play, the Nickelodeon way
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Nationwide
Headquarters New York City, New York
Formerly called MTV Hits (2002–16)
Sister channel(s)
Availability
C-Band AMC 18-Channel 232 (H2H 4DTV)
Dish Network Channel 368 (SDTV)
Cable
Available on many U.S. cable providers Check local listings for channels
Verizon FiOS Channel 214
IPTV
AT&T U-verse Channel 509

NickMusic is an American digital cable television network that is owned by Viacom and is under the editorial control of the children's cable network Nickelodeon as the network's sixth brand extension in its history. It is a subsidiary of the "Viacom Kids & Family Group" division of Viacom's Media Networks division, and mainly carries music video and music-related programming from younger pop artists that appeal to Nickelodeon's target audience.

Like its sister music video-only networks from BET and CMT Music, NickMusic is based on an automated "wheel" schedule that was introduced during the early years of MTV2. The loop repeats three times a day, starting at 6 a.m. Eastern Time, and then resetting at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.

History

As MTV Hits

History

The network launched on May 1, 2002, with its programming consisted entirely of music videos. As with MTV Jams, the network was named for a daily program on MTV; in this case, MTV Hits, which was that network's main pop music video program. The network consisted of current hit music videos, along with a few older videos from earlier in the year, as well as a few from the late 1990s. The network maintained a commercial-free format, outside of internal promotions for MTV and MTV-branded properties.

My Hitlist era (2005–2006)

MTV Hits's first logo, used from the network's launch in 2002 until March 26, 2012. The logo was modified in February 2010 to remove the Music Television tag, though the publicity department of MTV Networks never released a version of that logo.

In 2005, the network began airing a feature called "My Hitlist Month", which was based on viewer selected playlists, submitted to a newly launched network website. This, as well as artist-selected playlists, aired occasionally on the network through 2006.

Playlistism era (2006–2011)

On December 18, 2006, the "Hit List" theme returned to MTV Hits. At first, "Playlistism" consisted of replays of the viewer hit lists from the past, as well as new playlists from sister networks MTV2 and MTVU, as well as artist and themed playlists. In 2009, the network began to accept traditional commercial advertising, which generally consists of direct response advertising and ads for ringtone providers.

March 2012 reimaging

Final logo for MTV Hits from March 26, 2012 until September 9, 2016.

Until March 26, 2012, the network's logo remained the same since its launch, with a minor readjustment in February 2010 of the iconic "M" to remove the Music Television tagline and a small quarter of the logo in line with the official rebranding of all MTV networks. A new logo and imaging was introduced on that date, featuring all text in bold Helvetica, including a minimal-style logo with the 2010 MTV logomark next to the word "Hits". MTV Jams followed with the same reimaging on April 13.

Final schedule

The network discontinued many of the playlist shows throughout 2009 and 2010, while keeping the Playlistism name until it faded out entirely by late January 2011, when the network restored its former 'illustration from a music box' imaging to identify the network between commercial blocks. The lower-left banner which formerly listed playlist dedications became dedicated to promotional messages and a rolling advertisement for the network's music video web portal before eventually being discontinued. MTV News segments (usually not pertaining to news but segments about upcoming films and albums) also aired, before being removed in early 2015 due to various financial issues within Viacom and a reorganization of the news division back towards current events.

Generally, except for artists which were popular before the period, all music videos carried by MTV Hits were from the era after the 1998 premiere of Total Request Live, with a heavy focus on current music.

As NickMusic

On September 9, 2016, the channel came under the editorial control of Nickelodeon and was rebranded as NickMusic (in concert with the iHeartMedia digital radio network known as Nick Radio), becoming the last of the original MTV Networks Digital Suite channels to have a rebranding, a process dating back to the 2006 rebranding of VH1 Country as CMT Pure Country. Some MTV Hits blocks such as Videos We Heart will be maintained, though 'guest DJ' slots will now be taken by younger stars of music and Nickelodeon series.[1] It was also the final MTV-branded network made up exclusively of music video programming to end their use of an MTV brand in the United States.

Programming

Current

Former

Availability

NickMusic, as a part of the MTV Digital Suite, is available on the digital tiers of many cable providers, along with Verizon FiOS, and AT&T U-verse. It is one of the few remaining Digital Suite channels that is not available on DirecTV or Dish Network (the Digital Suite having been created to provide an advantage of digital cable-exclusive channels to providers). One of the last cable holdouts, Time Warner Cable, added the music channels of the Digital Suite in the summer of 2012 as part of a wider agreement to give TWC's tablet application access to Viacom's networks.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Wagonmeister, Elizabeth (August 30, 2016). "Viacom Rebrands MTV Hits as NickMusic". Variety. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (16 May 2012). "Viacom, Time Warner Cable settle app flap; Viacom channels to be available on iPad viewing service". Variety. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.