| Nick Jr. | |
| Picture Format: | 576i (SDTV) |
| Launch Date: | (block) (channel) |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English Māori |
| Area: | Australia New Zealand |
| Owner: | Paramount Networks UK & Australia |
| Sister Channels: | Network 10 10 HD 10 Bold 10 Peach MTV Club MTV MTV Classic MTV Hits Nickelodeon (pay-TV) Nickelodeon (free-to-air) NickMusic Comedy Central |
| Website: | www.nickjr.com.au |
| Online Serv 1: | Fetch Mobi (AU) |
| Online Chan 1: | Channel 253 |
| Online Serv 2: | Sky Go (NZ) |
| Online Chan 2: | skygo.co.nz |
Nick Jr. is a 24-hour children's pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand designed for pre-schoolers. Nick Jr. was a morning programming block on Nickelodeon until 2004, when Foxtel launched it as a full 24-hour kids channel.[1] The channel is owned by based on the original American network. on Paramount Networks UK & Australia, and was also available on Optus Television.
Before Nick Jr. officially launched as a 24-hour TV channel, it was part of Nickelodeon's morning line-up which included such shows as Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer and LazyTown, the block itself was also joined by a presenter known as "Face" which presented the Australian-input from 1998 until 2006, the Australian-input was also the last of the few international Nick Jr. block to have Face being replaced, as others stopped using him by 2004 and 2005, the actor who voiced the Australian dubbed Face is currently unknown.
On 21 January 2004, Foxtel announced a brand new digital service along with new channel line-ups which included Nick Jr.[2] On 14 March 2004, Nick Jr. officially launched to be the first 24-hour Australian kids channel to play shows suited for pre-schoolers.
For a few months after Nick Jr. became a full channel, it kept a two-hour time slot on Nickelodeon in the mornings from 8:00am until 10:00am, but the time allocated to the block was far shorter than it was before it became a full channel.
The channel introduced some original short-form programming, including Cooking for Kids with Luis[3] and Gardening for Kids with Madi.
The channel used the new Nick Jr. logo from Friday 26 March 2010.[4] From 2004 until 2010, the channel used a localised logo with two kangaroos with the tradition of 'Nick' (representing the adult) and 'Jr.' (as the child).
During the time Nickelodeon had a separate channel in New Zealand, it had a Nick Jr. block running from 9:30 am to 2 pm from Monday to Wednesday, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm on Thursday and Friday and 6:30 am to 8 am on weekends. After the closure of the New Zealand feed, the Australian feed of Nick Jr. launched in New Zealand on 24 December 2010.[5]
On 29 February 2012, a 60-second anthem aired.
On 3 December 2013, Nick Jr. became available on Foxtel's streaming service Foxtel Go.[6]
On 1 January 2014, Nick Jr. launched on Australian IPTV provider FetchTV.[7] [8]
The channel aired for a time as a two-hour block in the afternoons on Sky Television in New Zealand, until this ceased in 2013.
On 1 August 2023, Nick Jr. was removed from Foxtel[9] following an announcement that 10 Shake would rebrand as Nickelodeon[10] on the same day, with selected programmes being shifted to that channel and was replaced by Nick Jr. Europe. Fetch TV continues to broadcast the channel in Australia, and a variant of the channel is offered as a FAST channel on 10Play.[11]