The original version of Nickelodeon Germany launched on 5 July 1995 and ceased broadcasting on 31 May 1998.
History[]
Pre-launch[]
After the successful launch of Nickelodeon UK, Viacom set their target to launch Nickelodeon in Germany, due to large potential customer numbers (the channel would have to be free-to-air on satellite and cable under German broadcasting law) and little market competition. They applied for a license in November 1994.
Initial years[]
On 5 July 1995, Nickelodeon Germany launched on the DFS Kopernikus satellite available to the whole of Germany and on cable networks in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where it was based. At first it could only broadcast from 1pm-7pm on weekdays and 8am-1pm on weekends. In October, it extended its hours to 6am to 8pm in some regions. In 1996, it got a slot on the Astra satellite and shared a space on Astra 1D at 10,714 H with cultural channel Arte, forcing Nick to end early at 5pm, though the handover was later amended to 7pm.
Downfall[]
Advertising was largely Nickelodeon Germany's only source of income. They could not rely on cable or satellite subscription fees (like in the UK) as in Germany kids' channels were forced to broadcast free-to-air. The channel never had good advertising rates and most breaks were consequently filled with other programming. Then, German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF collaborated to launch Das Kinderkanal, or KIKA for short. Due to KIKA's public status, it took over Nickelodeon's slot on cable providers across Germany (each German state had a different media authority and each had different rules). Viacom tried to sue one stating that giving KIKA special status was "illegal". At the time, Nickelodeon had access to 13 million out of 16 million homes in Germany. Nickelodeon International's Bruce Tuchman stated, "We aren't going to pull out of Germany, We have invested tens of millions of Deutschmarks and intend to stay on cable. We mean to do everything within our power to secure cable distribution". After the launch of KIKA, Nickelodeon's cable slot was lost in most states of Germany and they fell to third place in the market (7.5%) behind Super RTL (17.5%) and KIKA (10.3%). The channel now had to individually battle for cable carriage in each state. They were also evicted from their previous satellite slot (which went to KIKA) and were now on Astra 1B at 11,612 H, though they were now back to their expanded hours of 6am to 8pm.
Nickelodeon attempted to look for a German business partner and almost secured ProSieben, but they never secured a deal. The channel never once generated a profit despite managing director Bernd Fronhoff's promises to Viacom for 170 million Deutsche Mark of profit. Although they got most of their cable slots back, it was too little, too late. In January 1998, Viacom internally decided to shut down Nickelodeon Germany. This information was only given to the people in higher positions at the company. Although rumours in the German newspaper "Die Welt" began to spread of closure, Viacom actively denied them and cleared up the situation with employees, telling them nothing was happening.[1] Another meeting happened in May 1998, and news of closure slowly began to trickle down. However, the official announcement to both employees and viewers did not happen until 29 May. All employees were physically restrained from leaving the meeting room in the headquarters until everyone had been given their notice, while still being told by Nickelodeon International head Karen Flischel that the decision was made days before. [2]
The channel repeatedly broadcast a slide informing viewers of closure with a pre-produced goodbye trailer (made in February) across the final weekend. The channel closed on 31 May at 8pm after an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Afterwards, the channel was occupied by a single testcard, even though every morning the startup was shown as usual.[3] This testcard would be shown where the channel once stood every day until August when it was finally disconnected, ending Nickelodeon's turbulent 3 year involvement in Germany at the time.
Viacom sold most Nickelodeon programmes to Super RTL afterwards, although Rugrats notably was sold to Pro Sieben. A Nickelodeon block was also launched on SF Zwei in Switzerland, which broadcast until 2003.
Nickelodeon did not re-enter the German market until announcing their return in April 2005. They relaunched in September of that year and the second attempt in Germany is still going strong today.