NOGGIN COULD GO ON NICK JR

Nickelodeon may launch pre-school channel Noggin as a block within Nick Jr channel in the UK, managing director Karen Flischel has told Interspace.

Meanwhile, Nickelodeon itself will launch in India on October 16. The 24-hour joint-venture channel with Zee TV will be available initially on Zee’s SitiCable service, but the channel’s owners hope that it will soon migrate to a DTH platform when broadcasting regulations permit.

As to launching Noggin (jointly owned by Children’s Television Workshop (CTW)/Nickelodeon) outside the US, Flischel said there were all sorts of possibilities. "The UK is a market that is re-inventing TV, and I rule out nothing," she said. "Nesting Noggin is one option, but we might want to nest some other concept, and that might be within ‘big’ Nick or Nick Junior. There is a lot to unfold in the marketplace. The market is massively crowded, and there is only so much you can slice that audience. People are also talking about plans for more [kids] channels, but my view is that the market cannot sustain much more. How that plays out is a question in itself. Do some fall out, is there consolidation, how does the continuing fragmentation manifest itself? The UK is both fascinating and quite scary."

CTW’s CEO-designate Gary Knell is very bullish about Noggin’s chances outside the US. "It certainly is my intention to take the brand outside the US. Noggin is not a competitor to Nickelodeon," he said. "It is a good place to have kids’ educational programming and has built a whole brand concept. It is about empowering kids while at the same time making learning cool. We are looking closely at Europe, at partnership possibilities and we want to grow the franchise there. While we are not ready to announce anything, we are not placing limits on this channel being a US-only service."

Knell said: "In theory the UK would definitely be one of those markets. It’s a crowded kids market, but it has obvious attractions." He also said he was looking to secure distribution in China. "We could be a big, big player in China," he said. "We already have terrific relationships with Shanghai TV, CCTV and the Chinese do place a very high value on education within kids programming. They already take our Sesame Street Chinese spin-off, and I can see us building this to a big cable presence there. Japan also has high possibilities."

Knell said the fact that Nick Jr had launched in the UK was not a problem. "We are looking to place shows on Nick UK ourselves," he said. "I think we will work with them on that platform and there are even possibilities of working with them on some segments within Nick Jr. They are, after all, a co-owner of Noggin. They [have a] vested interest in making Noggin a success, and we could nest a programme block with them, and frankly it is less risky all round."