Nickandmore!

[via press release]

NOGGIN to Become 24-Hour Commercial-Free Preschool Service

The N to Become First 24-Hour Tween/Teen Channel, Will Feature ‘TEENick’ Programming During Day and The N’s Content at NightThe N Adds to Hit Schedule with New Original and Acquired Programming for Fall and Winter

NEW YORK, Aug. 13 — As part of MTV Networks’ (MTVN) niche programming strategy to super-serve targeted audiences, the award-winning NOGGIN and The N, the two Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group brands that currently share space on a single channel, will be separated into two 24-hour services beginning Dec. 31, ’07, it was announced today by Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. NOGGIN and The N will be carried by all cable operators, DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS.

“Having NOGGIN and The N as two separate channels alongside our Nicktoons network gives our core audiences of preschoolers, kids 6-11 and tweens/teens their own dedicated 24-hour services, as well as more places for us to cultivate and develop future hits,” Zarghami said. “Making these highly valued channels separate and distinct will also provide us with the opportunity to explore serving audiences adjacent to these demos, and will provide demo- specific home bases for our vast programming library.”

“Splitting these channels into two 24-hour services provides MTV Networks and our partners with wonderful growth opportunities to further reach and serve our audiences,” said Denise Dahldorf, Executive Vice President, MTVN Content Distribution and Marketing. “The demos that NOGGIN and The N serve are important drivers with VOD, broadband and interactive applications, which adds to these brands’ already incredible value.”

On Dec. 31, commercial-free preschool channel NOGGIN will expand to 24- hours, as will ad-supported The N, which will serve tweens and teens with programming from Nickelodeon’s popular TEENick block during the day and continue as The N at night. The N will move into the transponder currently occupied by the Nick Games and Sports channel (GAS), which will evolve into a new broadband service for TurboNick.

NOGGIN, with its mission to be a place where preschoolers gain key curricular knowledge through interactivity and narrative, features a schedule of original programming like Jack’s Big Music Show, Oobi and The Upside Down Show, as well as hit shows including Franklin, Max & Ruby, Little Bear, Pinky Dinky Doo, and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! NOGGIN also offers Nick Jr. favorites like Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, The Wonder Pets!, Blue’s Clues and The Backyardigans.

For The N’s move to 24 hours, its featured hit TEENick programming in the day will include Drake and Josh, The Amanda Show, All That and The Nick Cannon Show, among others. Programming at night from The N will include its current stable of hits including Degrassi: The Next Generation, Beyond the Break and South of Nowhere, as well as brand-new programming just greenlighted.

Some of the new, forthcoming programming for The N includes brand-new seasons of Degrassi (October 2008), Instant Star (February 2008) and the return of South of Nowhere (February 2008) in addition to the following four new original series:

— About A Girl, The N’s first-ever scripted comedy series, is a 13-episode college-based show written in LA and shot on location in Vancouver, premiering Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. The comedy, produced by Brightlight Productions Inc., chronicles Amy Ryan (Chiara Zanni, Good Luck Chuck), a college sophomore whose campus dorm turns out to be more of a dud than a dream, and she finds herself in need of a new address. Effectively homeless, she quickly bunks up with not one, but four male roommates in an off-campus house where everyday courtesies such as hygiene and privacy are about to go out the window;

— Interns (working title), a new half-hour scripted comedy from creators Will McRobb & Chris Viscardi (The Adventures of Pete & Pete), and produced by The Tom Lynch Company, the creators of The N’s South of Nowhere. Interns begins production in Vancouver in August and is scheduled to premiere in 2008;

— Gigantic (working title) Did you ever wonder what a silver spoon tastes like? This half-hour dramedy co-created by cult filmmaker Ben Wolfinsohn (High School Record) and Debby Wolfinsohn takes a fictional inside look at the chaotic, hilarious, entitled and often trying lives of the teen kids growing up in the shadow of Hollywood’s mega stars. Gigantic is scheduled to premiere in 2008;

— Queen Bees (working title) is an eight-episode reality series produced by Endemol USA that brings a group of teen “Queen Bees” together to live under one roof. We all knew them growing up. From the girl who is nice to you one minute but completely cruel the next, to the know-it-all who tries to be the center of attention and thinks she’s better than everyone else, to the girl who’ll steal your guy while you watch in horror. Each episode will focus on a different Queen Bee trait to see who is really the leader of this hive. Through a series of outrageous challenges filled with temptations, these Queen Bees will be forced to reveal their true selves. Queen Bees is scheduled to premiere in 2008;

— The Degrassi Spring Break Movie, the network’s first Degrassi TV movie, scheduled to premiere in April 2008, will feature the cast from Degrassi Community High as they take their first college road trip;

— The N also has acquired the hit That ’70s Show (June 2008), which will join the recently added Laguna Beach (45 eps) and The Hills (23 eps).