Nickelodeon Kuboia

Nickelodeon Kuboia was a Kuboian children's television channel owned and operated by MTV Networks Kuboia from 6th September 1993 until 25th July 2010. It is a spin-off of the American television channel of the same name, though unlike that version, Nickelodeon Kuboia focused mostly on 'Nicktoons' and animated programming, with live-action programming covering less of the schedule. The channel was partially owned by TVVC, who was responsible for funding it and all of its sister networks.

Although being amongst the most watched children's channels in Kuboia early on during its lifetime, its viewing figures drastically decreased around 2004, being outperformed by Junior Vision, Disney Channel Kuboia, Discovery Kids and even its own sister channels. Eventually TVVC announced that it would be pulling the channel's funding, and therefore, the channel would be closing down. Nickelodeon Kuboia ultimately ceased airing on 25th July 2010, with its sister channels also closing several months later.

1993 to 2004
Nickelodeon Kuboia was launched on 6th September 1993, the same day as sister channel Paramount Select. During its first three years on air, Nickelodeon Kuboia aired everyday from 7:00a.m. to 7:00p.m., with Paramount Select airing from 7:00p.m. to midnight At launch, the channel advertised itself as a more contemporary counterpart to Juicebox, as whilst that mostly aired older cartoons from Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros., Nickelodeon Kuboia instead aired more modern shows. A lot of the channel's programming at launch was acquired from DiC Entertainment, though with 'Nicktoons' programming also being aired regularly.

For the first eleven years of its life, Nickelodeon Kuboia had its own unique ident packaging, though it was loosely based off international versions. The idents themselves typically involved 3D orange-coloured objects interacting in a black background, and usually featured an announcer saying "You're watching Nickelodeon Kuboia!"

On 12th August 1996, Paramount Select moved to a different transmitter, which allowed Nickelodeon Kuboia to extend its hours to 9:00p.m. This move also saw the launch of a sister channel, Nick Jr. Kuboia, which allowed Nickelodeon Kuboia to target an older audience.

2004 to 2010
On 14th June 2004, Nickelodeon Kuboia updated its ident packaging to match that of the one the British feed had been using since 2002, bringing an end to the presentation that had been used by the channel since its launch. Also on this day, the channel increased its schedule by an hour, now ending at 10:00p.m. Starting from this point, Nickelodeon Kuboia's structure began to move more inline with the American version of the channel, with most of its older programming slowly being phased out in favour of more modern Nicktoons.

The channel updated its idents once again and started using the iconic splat logo on 31st October 2005. Its unique ident packaging, produced in computer animation, featured a dark, empty street with a pavement, graffiti wall and some other objects, with the 'Nick' splat appearing throughout the environment's props. Created in-house, MTV Networks Kuboia explained that the idents represent the "dark, gritty but also very magical and colourful life" of children living in urban areas of the country.

Closure
In September 2009, it was announced that all Nickelodeon-based channels would be closed in Kuboia by the end of 2010 following decreasing viewing figures and TVVC's decision to pull its funding in order to focus on its own brands. Nickelodeon Kuboia closed down for the final time on 25th July 2010 at 11:02p.m. The channel spent its last two minutes on-air looping its generic idents.

Original programming
Nickelodeon Kuboia comissioned several original programmes throughout its run, though original programming began to decrease around 2004. The first of these, Plug and Play, debuted in 1997 and was a weekly programme covering newly-released video games and any news regarding current and upcoming developments in gaming. Over a thousand episodes were produced over a twelve-year period, though many editions have since became lost media after they were junked by TVVC in 2011.

Amongst the most popular original progamming included two teen dramas; Urban Village, which premiered in 1999, and Sara, which premiered in 2002. The channel also comissioned several game shows, including Get Your Own Back and Robot Races.

Programming acquired from Nickelodeon US
Nearly all of the animated programming that aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons in the United States aired on Nickelodeon Kuboia. However, they often debuted a few years after their American premiere, with SpongeBob SquarePants not making its debut on the channel until June 2004.

Other acquired programming
During its early years, the channel acquired a lot of its programming from DiC Entertainment, such as Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Dennis the Menace, Captain N: The Game Master and Sonic the Hedgehog. A majority of these were pulled from the schedule during the spring of 2004, though some were eventually brought back for the channel's Nicktoons Network programming block.

Other acquired programmes include Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, The Three Friends and Jerry and the Challenge UK dubs of Takeshi's Castle and Unbeatable Banzuke.

Interstitial programming
As programmes were aired under a half-hour slot, and Nickelodeon Kuboia only aired two breaks an hour, the channel aired interstitial segments during breaks in order to avoid showing too much advertisements. Segments included Nickelodeon Fact Files, Nick Replay and Viewer's Choice.

Nick Party
Nick Party was a music-based programming block introduced in 1999, running on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6:00p.m. in an hour-long block, featuring music videos and occasionally interviews from musicians. The block was eventually discontinued in December 2004, though it continued to air on Nick Go! and VideoNick.

Nicktoons Network and The N
When Nickelodeon Kuboia extended its hours in June 2004, two nighttime programming blocks were introduced; Nicktoons Network and The N. The two blocks occupied the 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. timeslot on rotating days, with Nicktoons Network airing on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and The N airing on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Nicktoons Network's programmong consisted of both classic Nicktoons programming as well as older acquired animated series, such as Magma Eye, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Sonic the Hedgehog and The Adventures of Sam and Max: Freelance Police. The N meanwhile aired a mixture of both old and new live-action programming aimed at older audiences, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, iCarly Kenan & Kel and Zoey 101.

Nick Nederlands
Nick Nederlands was a Dutch feed to Nickelodeon Kuboia launched on some providers in 2000. These carried a near-identical feed to the main channel, but aired programmes and advertisements in the Dutch language. It also featured Dutch-speaking presenters during the period the main channel had in-vision continuity.

In-vision continuity
From October 1999, Nickelodeon Kuboia featured in-vision continuity. Unlike Bumper's Block and KT, these were pre-recorded and filmed in a private snack bar in Gutstone, East Kuboia. The continuity links featured a group of (usually two or three) young presenters announcing what programmes were coming up and reading fan messages and birthday cards sent to the channel. In-vision continuity was eventually discontinued after 5th September 2004.

International availability
Outside of Kuboia, the channel was available on NTL in Sallisland, in the Philippines on, and certain providers in Cupia and the Noobian Union.

Nick Magazine
Sponsored by King P, a magazine for the channel, originally titled Nickelodeon Kuboia Weekly, was launched in October 1999. Published every Saturday, it features sneak peaks of upcoming shows and episodes, facts and trivia, as well as reviews for entertainment and tourist attractions in Kuboia. It was rebranded as Nick Magazine in June 2004. The last issue was published on 28th August, 2010.

The magazines were produced under a tight budget, and featured a lot of mistakes and spelling errors, as well as a few factual inaccuracies. From 1999 to 2004, each issue came to €0.49. By 2010, the price for each issue had increased to €2.99.

Website
In August 1996, a website for the channel was launched. Originally, it was simply a singular page with the channel's weekly schedule and a breif summary of its content and sister networks. Later on, more pages were added.

Following the channel's closure in July 2010, the Nickelodeon Kuboia website was updated to explain the closure, with links provided to redirect the user to the websites of its sister channel's websites. From December 2010, the website redirected to a variety of different places overtime, such as the TVVC website and a placeholder webpage. As of 2021, it currently redirects to an error message.