TheMisterManGuy
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In its earliest years, before the 1985 acquisition by Viacom, Nickelodeon was owned by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. A joint venture of American Express and Warner Bros.'s parent company, Warner Communications. Warner originally launched Nick as part of its "QUBE" experiment in the late 70s which showed nothing but a preschool series titled Pinwheel. It would later join Warner's main cable packages by the end of the decade with its current name and some new shows in tact.
Warner later bought back American Expresses' stake in Warner-Amex, reverting the company back to Warner Cable in 1984, and a year later, sold its networks division, which included Nick, MTV, and VH1, to an upstart syndication company named Viacom (who had spun off from CBS), who renamed it MTV Networks.
Viacom arguably made Nickelodeon the household name it is today. But what if Warner kept its networks division after they bought back AE's shares? Specifically, what if Nick and the rest of its sister channels stayed with Warner? Who by that point merged with Time, Inc. to form "TimeWarner". How would the channel be different? Would Nickelodeon's trademark attitude remain in this timeline under a TimeWarner ownership?
I definately think that there'd be more coporate synergy between Nick and TimeWarner's other subsidaries, namely Warner Bros. WB would probably distribute Nick movies instead of Paramount, and maybe Warner Bros. Television could've been one of the networks' main production houses. Unlike Cartoon Network (which TimeWarner would later own through its Turner acquisition), Nick isn't bound to strictly airing animated programing, so WB could also produce live-action shows for the Channel. And If the creation of Kids' WB! remains in this timeline, then Nick would be KWB's second run outlet as opposed to Cartoon Network.
Warner later bought back American Expresses' stake in Warner-Amex, reverting the company back to Warner Cable in 1984, and a year later, sold its networks division, which included Nick, MTV, and VH1, to an upstart syndication company named Viacom (who had spun off from CBS), who renamed it MTV Networks.
Viacom arguably made Nickelodeon the household name it is today. But what if Warner kept its networks division after they bought back AE's shares? Specifically, what if Nick and the rest of its sister channels stayed with Warner? Who by that point merged with Time, Inc. to form "TimeWarner". How would the channel be different? Would Nickelodeon's trademark attitude remain in this timeline under a TimeWarner ownership?
I definately think that there'd be more coporate synergy between Nick and TimeWarner's other subsidaries, namely Warner Bros. WB would probably distribute Nick movies instead of Paramount, and maybe Warner Bros. Television could've been one of the networks' main production houses. Unlike Cartoon Network (which TimeWarner would later own through its Turner acquisition), Nick isn't bound to strictly airing animated programing, so WB could also produce live-action shows for the Channel. And If the creation of Kids' WB! remains in this timeline, then Nick would be KWB's second run outlet as opposed to Cartoon Network.