Nick Jr. (British and Irish TV channel)


Nick Jr. is a British television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland operated by a joint venture between ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia and Sky Group. The channel is aimed at pre-school children.

History

Nick Jr. was first broadcast in the UK and Ireland from 1993, during the daytime hours from 9am - 12pm on the main Nickelodeon channel.
In 1999, the Nick Jr. slot was spun off into its own channel although the slot on Nickelodeon continued until July 2000, initially broadcasting on channel 606 on Sky, and from 6am to 12pm alongside Sky Sports 3 on analogue satellite, although this schedule would sometimes be altered if sports were being covered in the early morning.
When it first properly aired it was presented by Face. In 2001, MTV Dance started broadcasting during its downtime hours after it was spun off from MTV Extra. MTV Dance acquired its own separate channel in 2002 and both channels have since extended their broadcasting hours.
A version of Nick Jr. for Ireland was launched in 2006. This version, like Nickelodeon Ireland, shares the same schedule as the UK feed, but has Irish adverts. On 30 April 2010, the channel updated to the United States look.
As of 2 August 2010, Nick Jr. broadcasts 24 hours a day.
As of 5 July 2016, Nick Jr. HD launched on Sky channel 637, replacing MTV Live HD's Sky slot.

Nick Jr. Classics

During the mid and late 2000s, Nick Jr. and Nick Jr. 2 presented a nighttime programming block dedicated to classic British children's programmes under the title Nick Jr. Classics. The block launched under the name Noggin on 31 May 2004, running every night from 8:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. It was rebranded as Nick Jr. Classics on 5 September 2005.
The block was discontinued on Nick Jr. on 4 January 2009 and Nick Jr. 2 in 2010.

Programming