Nickelodeon Announces New Movie, Renewals, Green Initiative

NEW YORK, March 13: At its
Upfront presentation today, Nickelodeon announced the premiere of its first
original family prime-time movie, a raft of renewals for its animated series,
and the rollout of a new multiplatform environmental pro-social initiative for
kids.

Nickelodeon plans to debut
its first original family prime-time movie, Gym Teacher: The Movie, this August, starring Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni. Joining Meloni in the
film will be co-star Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy) and Nickelodeon's Nathan Kress (iCarly). Meloni plays underdog Dave Stewie, a humiliated
former gymnastics gold-medal contender turned gym teacher who gets a shot at
redemption as he vies for the coveted Gym Teacher of the Year Award. The date
and time for the premiere are still to be determined.

Gym Teacher is a Nickelodeon production in association with
Dolphin Entertainment. The executive producers are Lauren Levine (Bridge to
Terabithia, Shredderman Rules!), Stanley M. Brooks (Broken Trail), Jim Head and Bill O'Dowd. Paul Dinello (Strangers
with Candy, The Colbert Report) directs a teleplay by brothers Daniel and Steven
Altiere.

In addition, Nickelodeon
has greenlit 86 all-new episodes of Nicktoon series, including the network's
top-three ranked animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents and Back at the Barnyard, as well as the preschool-targeted The
Backyardigans.

Nickelodeon has renewed
both SpongeBob SquarePants and The
Fairly OddParents for a seventh
season, picking up 26 and 20 additional episodes, respectively. SpongeBob
SquarePants has ranked as the
number-one animated program with kids 2 to 11 for more than six consecutive
years, and its Saturday morning airing ranks as the top-rated program on
television among kids 2 to 11. Since its launch in March 2001, The Fairly
OddParents has become the
number-three-ranked animated property on broadcast and cable television among kids
2 to 11, only following SpongeBob SquarePants and Back at the Barnyard.

Nickelodeon has also
greenlit 20 additional episodes of Back at the Barnyard, which currently ranks as the number-two animated
series on television among kids 2 to 11. And The Backyardigans, Nick Jr.'s hit animated preschool series, was
picked up for fourth season of an additional 20 episodes.

"Our key animated
properties continue to be innovative and fresh and feature characters that our
viewers have grown to love and really connect with," said Brown Johnson,
the president of animation at Nickelodeon & MTVN Kids and Family Group.
"We are thrilled to be making another season of SpongeBob SquarePants—a series we hope to make for a long
time—as well The Fairly OddParents, and adding additional episodes of our newest hit series Back at
the Barnyard and preschool gem The
Backyardigans."

Finally, Nickelodeon will
launch The Big Green Help, a new multiplatform environmental pro-social
initiative for kids, next month. Designed to empower kids to take action on the
environment through gaming and grassroots activity, the multiplatform The Big
Green Help will provide information and tools to help explain climate change to
kids and connect them to energy saving and earth-friendly activities in their
everyday lives. The centerpiece of The Big Green Help will be the first-ever
global multiplayer online “green” game for kids, which will provide steps and
information to directly link them to ways that they can positively contribute
to helping the environment, on an individual and a community level.

When the campaign launches
in the U.S. in April, Nickelodeon will encourage kids to convert their virtual
online missions into steps that they can take within the real world and their
local communities and schools. Nickelodeon will team up with national
environmental and youth-focused organizations on all aspects of The Big Green
Help to engage kids on environmental issues, including partnering on local
grassroots activities where kids will carry out their virtually volunteered
hours.

Nick.com will launch a new
website in April to help educate kids on all things green, located at
www.thebiggreenhelp.com. This site will include features such as a personalized
questionnaire to track kids' individual and family progress during the
campaign; a glossary of environmentally focused terms; daily green tips for
kids; a video upload tool that kids can use to share what they are doing to
protect the planet; and green games to teach kids earth-friendly activities. Kids can also create green environments
in Nicktropolis, Nickelodeon's virtual community for kids.

Internationally, Nick
channels in the U.K., Germany, Korea, Latin America and Nick Southeast Asia are
actively addressing environmental issues. The Big Green Help will roll out
across Nickelodeon's international network to become the brand's global
pro-social campaign with all key markets participating in the multiplayer
online green game later this year.

"We know that kids
can truly be agents of change on important issues, and the environment is an
issue that affects 100 percent of our audience," said Marva Smalls, the
executive VP of public affairs for Nickelodeon & MTVN Kids and Family
Group. "Whether it's addressing kids' health and wellness through our Let's
Just Play campaign, or promoting volunteerism with The Big Help, Nickelodeon
has a history of talking to kids and engaging them on issues that affect their
lives, and encouraging them to take action. With The Big Green Help, we want to
provide them with the necessary tools and information so they can become part
of the environmental solution."

Nickelodeon collaborated
with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change to conduct the Keeping It Cool:
Kids, Parents and the Global Environment research study to gauge kids' and parents' attitudes and behaviors
towards the environment. The network then applied its findings from the
research directly to the development of The Big Green Help campaign. Among the
highlights of the study were that half of kids 8 to 14 are not sure how to
directly impact environmental issues, but approximately 80 percent believe they
can stop global warming; and approximately one third of parents and kids say
they know nothing about ways they can help protect the environment, yet three quarters
of parents and half of kids are concerned about the environment.

—By Irene Lew