1995–1998 The original version of Nickelodeon was launched on 5 July 1995 on the
DFS Kopernikus satellite and a few cable providers in
North Rhine-Westphalia. The station was launched in a joint venture between Viacom, who owned 90%, and
Ravensburger's film and television division, who owned the remaining 10%. Nickelodeon initially aired for six hours per day from 1:00pm to 7:00pm on weekdays and 8:00 am to 1:00pm on weekends; during off-air hours, the channel looped a half-hour special featuring excerpts from its shows. The station was headquartered in
Düsseldorf where live presentation came from. Starting in October 1995, Nickelodeon aired from 6:00am until 8:00pm, and timeshared with
Arte starting in 1996, truncating its broadcast to 5:00 pm, though later expanded to 7:00 pm. After
Der Kinderkanal launched in January 1997, Nickelodeon's channel slot replaced by Kinderkanal on many cable providers and started timesharing with
VH-1 Germany on satellite between 6:00am and 8:00pm. Nickelodeon was a financial failure and lost 150,000,000
Deutsche Mark due to weak advertising sales and its inability to compete against the more successful Kinderkanal. The channel's future had been deliberated since the beginning of 1998 and its closure had been planned months in advance.
Viacom announced it with only days of notice given to employees. During the station's final three days, a testcard aired after each programme informing viewers of its incoming closure. During the final three days, the final episode of
Nick Live Club aired, in which the channel's in-vision presenters thanked viewers for watching before performing a farewell song. This episode was filmed on 29 May and was repeated up to and including the final day. The channel closed on 31 May 1998 at 8:00pm with a video thanking viewers and informing them Nickelodeon's programming would soon be available elsewhere, before switching to VH1. Its transponder space was occupied with an edited version of the testcard in the following weeks, before
MTV was relocated to the transponder the following year. Viacom soon thereafter struck a deal with
RTL owner
CLT-UFA to broadcast their programming on RTL's own children's channel,
Super RTL, in addition to a weekend morning
Nicktoons block on the main RTL channel. After VH-1 Germany shut down in 2001 (and was replaced by a
pan-European feed on a separate channel), it was replaced with
MTV2 Pop.
Relaunch: 2005–2010 On 7 April 2005, it was announced that Nickelodeon Germany would be relaunched under the name
Nick as a new channel on 12 September 2005. Nick started with a prime-time programming block titled Nick Comedy that aired sitcoms and other comedy shows. Nickelodeon eventually replaced
MTV2 Pop; since February 2006, in addition to international series, it started airing locally produced shows. In October 2007, a special German version of the
Kids' Choice Awards was produced and broadcast on the channel. In the start of 2008, Nick launched a family-oriented programming block named (Nick after eight), which was the local adaptation of US overnight block
Nick at Nite. It aired documentaries, drama series, films and sitcoms. It used an adapted logo of its US counterpart. Most of the block's programming schedule consisted on repeats of
The Ren & Stimpy Show and
CatDog. On 15 December 2008,
Comedy Central Germany replaced Nick nach acht on Nickelodeon, taking over its airing time as a timeshared channel starting 8:15 pm.
2010s On 31 March 2010, the channel adopted the new international branding. The full
Nickelodeon name was restored, while Nick Premium was rebranded as
Nicktoons. On 1 June 2011, Nickelodeon Germany started broadcasting in HD. On 1 October 2014, Nickelodeon Germany became a 24-hour channel, with Comedy Central leaving Nickelodeon's channel slot and moving to
VIVA Germany. Furthermore, Nickelodeon introduced a new overnight programming block called
Nicknight, replacing Comedy Central's airing time from 9:00pm to 5:45am. On 28 June 2017, the channel rebranded and shortened its name back to
Nick. On 1 November 2018 at 5 am, Nicknight was discontinued. At 8.15pm on that day
MTV+ launched airing from 8:15pm to 5am. However, the Austrian and Swiss feeds continued carrying the Nicknight brand until 1 October 2021, when they were replaced by
Comedy Central Austria and 7+ Family.
2020s On 1 March 2021, MTV+ was replaced by
Comedy Central +1. On 1 August 2023, Nickelodeon Germany rebranded on the same date as other international feeds and reverted to the original "Nickelodeon" name. On 23 April 2024, it was reported that
RTL Group (the former CLT-UFA) had reached an agreement with
Paramount Global to acquire Nickelodeon Germany, as Paramount wants to refocus its resources on
Paramount+ and
Pluto TV. If the deal were to have been approved, RTL Group would rebrand the channel as Toggo, the same name used for Super RTL's programming block for children, while also having the broadcasting rights for Nickelodeon shows on German television. On 17 September 2024, it was announced by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) that they had blocked RTL's purchase of Nickelodeon Germany. ==Other feeds==