TeenNick

As The N (2002–2009)

TeenNick originally debuted on April 1, 2002 as a nighttime programming block on Noggin called The N. Similarly to the shared-time format of Nickelodeon (which had shared channel space with other cable channels since the channel's inception in 1979, including The Movie Channel, BET, the Alpha Repertory Television Service, and its successor A&E), and Nick at Nite, Noggin and The N aired their respective programming over the same channel space and in a block format: The N ran from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. ET while Noggin ran from 6:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m. ET seven nights a week. This was acknowledged in The N's daily sign-off message, which explained that The N would resume its programming at 6:00 p.m. ET later that day.

MTV Networks started developing the concept of The N in 2002. From its launch, The N targeted an older audience than Noggin (aiming at teenagers, compared to the channel's original pre-teen target audience and its later shift with the launch of The N to a preschooler audience) and was more entertainment-based in nature compared to Noggin's educational format.

In October 2006, Viacom bought the quiz website Quizilla, and later integrated it with The N's internet properties.

Split

On August 13, 2007, Nickelodeon announced that it would shut down sister channel Nickelodeon Games and Sports on December 31, 2007, turning it into an online-only service on TurboNick, with The N becoming its own 24-hour channel that would take over Nickelodeon GAS's channel space. Noggin's final sign on was a sudden cut-in to the intro of the British series 64 Zoo Lane replacing the song. However, due to unknown bandwidth problems, Dish Network continued to carry Nickelodeon GAS on its usual channel slot, with The N continuing to timeshare with Noggin on the satellite provider until April 23, 2009, when Dish replaced GAS with the Pacific Time Zone feed of Turner Broadcasting System's Cartoon Network. Dish Network began to carry The N and Noggin as separate channels on May 6, 2009.

Relaunch as TeenNick (2009–present)

On February 24, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that The N was to be rebranded as TeenNick to bring the channel in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity. On June 18, 2009, Nickelodeon unveiled the new standardized logo for the channel, that would also be extended to the other Nickelodeon channels, intending to create a unified look that could better be conveyed across the services.

The channel relaunched as TeenNick on September 28, 2009, at 6 a.m. ET, accompanied by the debut of the new logo (which was designed by New York City-based creative director/designer Eric Zim); former parent network Noggin was relaunched as Nick Jr. on that same date. Nick Cannon, who previously starred in the Nickelodeon series All That and The Nick Cannon Show (and was declared in publicity materials as the "Chairman of TeenNick"), had a presence on the channel, appearing in network promotions. Nearly all of The N's existing program inventory was carried over to the relaunched channel. However, most of the channel's original series (with the exception of The Best Years, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and The Assistants) were not carried over to TeenNick.

On February 1, 2010, TeenNick began incorporating music videos into its morning and afternoon schedule on a regular basis, airing between certain programs – and effectively reducing commercial breaks within programs where a music video is to be aired afterward – from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET (this had been done periodically for some time prior to that date, usually airing between 6 and 8 a.m. ET, although not every day).

Despite the rebranding, some electronic program guide (EPG) providers identify TeenNick as The N and display its 2007–2009 logo as that of TeenNick's current logo (Nick Jr. has a similar issue, as the former Noggin logo and name is still used by some EPG providers to identify that channel). In July 2011, TeenNick began carrying programs originally filmed for high definition broadcast in a letterboxed format, due to the absence of an HD simulcast feed of the channel. After Nicktoons and Nick Jr. launched HD services in 2013, TeenNick was the only Nickelodeon-branded network without an HD simulcast network until September 2016; this remains limited to IPTV providers and some cable company mobile and digital media player apps, such as that of the companies under the Spectrum branding.

The channel currently airs from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM (ET), while it's late-night programming block "The Splat" airs nightly from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM (ET).

Programming

The channel features a mix of programs that target older children and pre-teens, such as Drake & Josh, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Big Time Rush, iCarly, Zoey 101, and Victorious, and shows aimed at teenagers and young adults, such as Boy Meets World. The longest-running series on TeenNick's schedule, the last remaining charter program on the channel and the centerpiece of its program lineup, was Degrassi, the installment of a long-running Canadian teen drama franchise that has run on the channel from 2002 when the channel originated as The N until 2015.

TeenNick has more relaxed programming content standards than the rest of the Nickelodeon channels, except for Nick at Nite, whose content standards are both similar to that of TeenNick; however, TeenNick has had increasingly fewer series that feature objectional content (e.g. profanity or sexual content) airing as part of its schedule during the 2010s to date, compared to its program inventory prior to the 2009 rebrand (largely due to the increased prevalence of Nickelodeon original series on the schedule) – with shows incorporating such content primarily being limited to certain nighttime slots.

Most of the programs that had been airing on The N remained on TeenNick, with some slight changes for scheduling purposes and possible new future programming, including the re-acquisition of partial cable rights to the early 2000s sitcom, One on One (which had previously aired on The N), and a shift of Full House, which had formerly aired on Nick at Nite and began to air on the channel in August 2009, shortly before the conversion from The N to TeenNick. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a longtime mainstay of The N, moved to TBS and Freeform in September 2009 upon the expiration of Viacom's rights to the series. On April 20, 2011, TeenNick announced that it had acquired the rights to air Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting that May.

The majority of TeenNick's weekday and weekend daytime schedule consists of reruns of current and former Nickelodeon series. Some defunct Nickelodeon series also air regularly during the day, such as Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Drake & Josh, iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious.

The amount of original programming on TeenNick has fallen drastically since the rebrand, in stark contrast to its former identity as The N. Only one program is exclusive to the network; TeenNick Top 10, a weekly music video countdown program with spare original continuity hosted by Nick Cannon and a small pre-determined pool of videos to choose from. TeenNick has produced one recent original series since the rebrand, the half-hour teen drama Gigantic, which ran from October 2010 to April 22, 2011. First-run episodes of series airing on TeenNick since then have been primarily in the form of Nickelodeon series that are burned off due to low ratings on the flagship channel, such as, in the recent past; Hollywood Heights, House of Anubis, How to Rock, and Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures, and foreign shows from overseas Nickelodeon networks which receive a minimum American run to fulfill contracts, such as Life with Boys, Dance Academy, H2O: Just Add Water, and Alien Surf Girls. As TeenNick has a high definition feed with very limited distribution, and is nearly exclusive to higher-cost digital cable tiers, ratings for those shows traditionally have a drastic fall with a move to TeenNick, along with the network producing few promotions mentioning the transplanted programming.

Programming blocks

On July 25, 2011, TeenNick began airing The '90s Are All That, a two-hour programming block featuring reruns of Nickelodeon's most popular programs from the 1990s, which is generally geared towards pre-teens and mature audiences. Originally airing on weeknights only until October 8, 2011, the block aired nightly from midnight to 2:00 a.m. E.T., with an encore from 2-4AM ET. The block also featured holiday-themed programming during holiday periods such as The '90s Are All That Holidaze during the holiday season in 2014 (including Christmas episodes of Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog, Doug, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, All That, and many more).

In 2015, The '90s Are All That was rebranded as The Splat to include programming from the 1980s and early-mid 2000s and currently airs from 10 p.m to 2 a.m. with an encore from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. In addition, The Splat also features themed weeks, live stunts, retro recreations, and its own dedicated website.