Nicktoons, Nickelodeons digital home for kid TVs animated hits, will add four new shows to its line-up in 2004, helping the network near its goal of 25% original by 2005. A new on-air look for the network, new packaging and two comedic interstitial series will roll out beginning Oct. 6. Also, leading the network will be its newly appointed, first-ever general manager, Keith Dawkins.
The goal of this new channel is to create a home for the next generation of animation, a laboratory for new talent and animation styles, said Cyma Zarghami, evp/gm of Nickelodeon. Weve appointed a general manager to take Nicktoons to new creative heights, and, in Keith, weve found the right person to create buzz and to build the channels momentum.
Nicktoons will develop an original series in 2004 and add three acquisitions never before seen in the U.S. A quarter of our schedule right now is exclusive to Nicktoons, and were quickly moving to a position where well be adding some new work by some creators who are enormously talented and are going to take animation to the next level, said Dawkins. With the combination of the Nickelodeon archives and the new projects were planning, the Nicktoons channel is going to be a creative lab that yields some innovative work.
Previously, Dawkins was a supervising producer at VH1, where he oversaw numerous long-form programming and led the networks short-form news coverage of live events. Earlier, Dawkins was a producer for Fox News Channel, where he was part of the networks original launch team, producing a variety of daily and live event coverage.
The class-key chew-po broadcast design division of Klasky Csupo is producing the channels new on-air look. Known for distinctive visuals, including motion and design graphic packaging, class-key chew-po broadcast designs previous work includes on-air development for MTVs PUNKD and THE OSBOURNES, E!s THE ANNA NICOLE SHOW and THE WAYNE BRADY SHOW, among others. Klasky Csupo has created some of the worlds most popular animated Nick shows for the past 13 years, including RUGRATS, THE WILD THORNBERRYS, AS TOLD BY GINGER and ROCKET POWER.
Nicktoons is part of the MTV Networks expanded suite of channels available for digital distribution. The new channels include MTV Hits, MTV Jams, Nicktoons and VH1 Mega Hits, expanding and strengthening MTV Networks digital offerings to 13 services.
