Nick Jr. (Australia & New Zealand)

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For other uses, see Nick Jr. (disambiguation).

Nick Jr.
CountryAustralia
Broadcast areaAustralia
New Zealand
Programming
LanguagesEnglish
Māori
Picture format576i (SDTV 16:9)
Ownership
OwnerParamount Networks UK & Australia
Sister channelsNetwork 10
10 HD
10 Drama
10 Comedy
MTV
Club MTV
MTV Classic
MTV Hits
Nickelodeon (pay TV)
Nickelodeon (free-to-air)
NickMusic
Comedy Central
History
Launched9 January 1998 (1998-01-09) (block)
14 March 2004 (2004-03-14) (channel)
Closed1 November 2025; 53 days ago (2025-11-01) (Australia)
2 December 2025; 22 days ago (2025-12-02) (New Zealand)
Replaced bySky Kids (New Zealand)
Links
Websitewww.nickjr.com.au
Availability
Streaming media
Fetch Mobi (AU)Channel 253
Sky Go (NZ)skygo.co.nz

Nick Jr. was a 24-hour children's pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand targeted at preschoolers. Before the channel's launch, Nick Jr. was a morning programming block on Nickelodeon until 2004, when Foxtel as a local feed of its American counterpart, launched it as a full 24-hour children's channel.[1] The channel is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia, and was also available on Optus Television.

History

[edit]
logo used from 2007 to 2010

Before Nick Jr. officially launched as a 24-hour television 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 Nick Jr. brands internationally to have Face being replaced.

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 children's channel to air mostly preschool shows.

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 was rebranded on 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 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 Fetch TV.[7][8]

The channel also aired as a two-hour block in the afternoons on Sky Television in New Zealand, until this ended 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. Global. Fetch TV continues to broadcast the channel in Australia, and a variant of the channel is offered as a FAST channel on 10Play.[11]

The channel was removed on Fetch TV on 1 November 2025.[12]

The channel was withdrawn in New Zealand from 2 December 2025, ultimately shutting down the channel completely. The final programme to air was Barbapapa: One Big Happy Family![13]

Logos

[edit]
  • Logo used from 2007 to 2010 with two Kangaroos, the national animal of Australia
    Logo used from 2007 to 2010 with two Kangaroos, the national animal of Australia
  • Logo used from 2010 to 2025
    Logo used from 2010 to 2025

Presenters

[edit]
  • Face (14 March 2004 – 2006), (1998 – 2006, block)
  • Ollie the Australian Muppet (14 March 2004 – 2013)

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fenech, Stephen (17 March 2004). "Supplement: The future is in your hands". The Advertiser. p. D01.
  2. ^ "Unknown Error". Foxtel. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Worldwide distribution for children's cookery show". C21Media.
  4. ^ Knox, David (23 March 2010). "Nickelodeon logo switch". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  5. ^ "Media Research Asia.com". 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  6. ^ Knox, David (3 December 2013). "Foxtel Go adds Nickelodeon, MTV, ESPN". TV Tonight. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  7. ^ FetchTV (16 December 2013). "Fetch TV". Facebook. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  8. ^ Davidson, Darren (16 December 2013). "Fetch muscles up before a Foxtel grab". The Australian. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  9. ^ Foxtel (18 July 2023). "Thank you for watching Nick Jr". Foxtel. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  10. ^ Mediaweek (22 June 2023). "Shake It Off: 10 Shake to rebrand to the Nickelodeon channel as the brand goes in-house at Paramount". Mediaweek. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Fetch". www.fetchtv.com.au. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  12. ^ Laidlaw, Kyle (19 September 2025). "FETCH TV set to lose all PARAMOUNT branded channels from November". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  13. ^ "Sky launching new channels – Sky Kids and Sky Comedy to replace Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central and Cartoon Network; music channels to replace MTV". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
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