Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel launched on December 1, 1977 as the first cable channel for children.[1] It is owned by Viacom through its Viacom Media Networks division's Nickelodeon Group unit and is based in New York City. It is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2–17.[2]
The channel was originally first tested as Pinwheel on December 1, 1977. Pinwheel was at the time only available on QUBE,[3] which was the first two-way major market interactive cable television system, owned by Warner Cable. Pinwheel relaunched as Nickelodeon on April 1, 1979, and expanded to other cable providers nationwide.[4] It was initially commercial-free and remained without advertising until 1984.[5] Warner sold Nickelodeon, along with its sister networks MTV and VH1, to Viacom in 1986.[6] Yo Gabba Gabba