![]() | |
Country | Australia |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Australia New Zealand |
Programming | |
Languages | English Māori |
Picture format | 576i (SDTV 16:9) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Paramount Networks UK & Australia |
Sister channels | Network 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 | |
Launched | 1 January 1998 (block) 14 March 2004 (channel) |
Closed | 1 November 2025 (Australia) |
Links | |
Website | www.nickjr.com.au |
Availability | |
Streaming media | |
Fetch Mobi (AU) | Channel 253 |
Sky Go (NZ) | skygo.co.nz |
Nick Jr. is 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.
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 will be removed from Fetch TV on 1 November 2025. [12]