Nickandmore!

[via press release]

NICKELODEON TO LAUNCH BUBBLECAST,
FIRST ON-AIR/ONLINE GAME FOR KIDS

BubbleCast to Debut February 5 on Nick.com during Rugrats on Slime Time Live

Pasadena, CA – January 17, 2001 – Nickelodeon and Nick.com create the first interactive TV/online game experience for kids when BubbleCast debuts February 5, 2001. BubbleCast is the first online game designed for kids to play on their computers as they watch Nickelodeon TV shows. Available exclusively at Nick.com, BubbleCast will premiere on-air and online during Rugrats at 4 p.m. (ET/PT), which airs weekdays within the network’s popular afternoon programming block, Slime Time Live.

“We know that today’s kids multi-task, and we are just creating a connection between the two mediums to make it more fun,” said Cyma Zarghami, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Nickelodeon.

“As the home base on the Web for kids, Nick.com connects kids to their favorite Nick characters,” said Mike Skagerlind, General Manager of Nick.com. “BubbleCast is the next phase in Nickelodeon’s multimedia convergence programming strategy that will continue to offer kids the best in interactive entertainment.”

In order to play BubbleCast, kids will tune into Slime Time Live, where host Dave Aizer will ask kids to log onto a special BubbleCast area of Nick.com. Once logged on, kids will enter a virtual room with up to seven other competitors. While kids watch the Rugrats, the computer will prompt kids with a “bubbling sound”, and will ask “live” questions in real-time about what’s happening on the TV show. At the end of the game, the names of the top 20 BubbleCast winners will be broadcast on Slime Time Live.

As the most interactive network for kids, Nickelodeon and Nick.com created BubbleCast to keep pace with the growing demands of kids for converging technologies that are fun and add new dimension to existing Nickelodeon hit show like Rugrats. Sixty-nine percent of households with kids aged 2-13 have a home computer according to a 1999 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, and 24 million households have cable TV and an internet computer in the same room according to the MTV Networks Leisure Time Study, 1999. More than 25 million kids log on to Nick.com each year.

Nickelodeon, now in its 22nd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the U.S. and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, publishing and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 78 million households and has been the number-one rated cable network for more than five consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.