When your child uses a kid-targeted website for Barbie, Dora the Explorer, Neopets, Nerf, or Nickelodeon, federal law limits what information can be collected. But an investigation by the New York state attorney general found that some of the biggest names in toys and kids’ entertainment were violating that law by collecting information from their young users without authorization, and by allowing third parties to track users’ behavior across the internet. [More]
nickelodeon
Nickelodeon Announces Plans For Stand-Alone Subscription Service
By 1.29.15
If you’ve ever tried to withhold a tablet full of cartoons from the grasping clutches of a five-year-old intent on mainlining Dora the Explorer, then you know that children’s TV content is a pretty big deal. Often it’s the only thing that can prevent a total, shrieking, screaming, flailing and hysterical meltdown. Viacom will be trying to cash in on that need for kid fodder with a new stand-alone subscription service for Nickelodeon. [More]
Sony’s Online Pay-TV Service To Launch With Channels You Might Actually Want To Watch
By 9.10.14
After what seemed like an eternity of news leaks, rumors, and promises of an online-only pay-TV service from Sony, the company has finally announced that it will indeed be launching that cloud-based service, and that it will start with a slate of channels including some that humans actually watch. [More]
Court Won’t Let Viacom Stop Cablevision’s Anti-Bundling Lawsuit
By 6.23.14
Sick of being forced to accept Viacom’s massive bundle of barely watched cable channels — Palladia and MTV Hits, anyone? — just to get the handful that its subscribers want to watch (MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon), New York-based Cablevision sued Viacom in early 2013, alleging the broadcaster was violating federal antitrust laws. Viacom has since tried to have the case dismissed, but a U.S. District Court has ruled that the case can move forward. [More]
New Nickelodeon Channel Will Let Parents Customize TV Programming
By 1.15.14
Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime owe a good deal of their success to parents of young children, who love that they can dial up one of their kids’ favorite shows or movies instantly and without commercials. The folks at Viacom and Verizon are hoping to replicate some of that experience with a new customizable cable TV channel aimed at youngsters. [More]
Sick Of Being Forced To Pay For Channels No One Watches, Cablevision Sues Viacom
By 2.26.13
Among the biggest bones of contention in the now-frequent carriage fee disputes between broadcasters and cable/satellite companies is broadcasters’ insistence that carriers buy an entire bundle of channels just to get the one or two networks people actually watch. Today, Cablevision declared “Enough!” and filed suit against Viacom. [More]
“No Deal In Sight” To End Viacom Blackout On DirecTV
By 7.18.12
It’s been a week since DirecTV and Viacom’s contract dispute resulted in nearly 20 million satellite customers staring at blank screens instead of MTV, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nickelodeon and several other Viacom-owned stations. Now the broadcaster is telling viewers not to get their hopes up for a quick resolution. [More]
Viacom Tells DirecTV Customers To Complain In Order To Get Free Stuff
By 7.13.12
We’re now a few days into the fight between Viacom and DirecTV that has left nearly 20 million of the satellite service’s customers without 26 channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central. And while the two parties are reportedly trying to hammer out a resolution, Viacom’s Twitter account is only stoking the anti-DirecTV fires. [More]
Viacom Takes Down Full Episodes Of TV Shows To Punish Everyone For DirecTV Dispute
By 7.12.12
The catfight between DirecTV and Viacom took a nasty turn this afternoon, as the broadcaster decided that it would temporarily stop streaming full episodes of some its shows simply because DirecTV pointed out to its ticked-off customers they could get some of their blacked-out favorites online. [More]
MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Others Disappear From DirecTV
By 7.11.12
As we reported early Tuesday morning, contract negotiations between DirecTV and Viacom had broken down in recent days, meaning nearly 20 million satellite subscribers could be without 26 channels, including basic cable mainstays like MTV, Vh1, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The deadline has come and gone, and those channels have vanished from DirecTV. [More]
New Nicktoons Show Called Out For Being Just One Huge Skechers Ad
By 9.15.10
Viacom must be really hurting for cash. First, they give Spike viewers 10-minute commercial breaks during Entourage and in October, their Nicktoons channel will begin airing Zevo-3, which a children’s advocacy group says is nothing but an extended ad for Skechers. [More]
Nickelodeon Keeps Its Broadcast Schedule Secret For "Competitive Reasons"?
By 7.23.10
Consumerist reader Frank noticed that the shows on Nickelodeon didn’t match what was showing up on his TiVo schedule. He’d try to record Dora the Explorer and end up with Spongebob. Thinking it must be an issue with TiVo, he checked against what was on TVguide.com and found that they also had incorrect info. [More]
