The N

World Screen Weekly, September 14, 2006

LAUNCH DATE: April
2002

OWNERSHIP: The N is
part of Nickelodeon’s digital channel portfolio in the U.S. and is owned by
Viacom.

DESCRIPTION: The N
is on the air everyday from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. It targets young adults
13-plus and offers shows that deal with the challenges of growing up. It shares
channel space with Noggin, a service that offers educational and entertainment
programming to young children.

VP OF PROGRAMMING & PRODUCTION: Sarah Tomassi Lindman

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: The
N is the only channel in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to teens. About 60
percent of its program schedule consists of acquisitions and the rest is made
up of original series. “We have a lot of acquired shows and they are the
foundation of our channel, but the originals define us as a channel and as a
brand,” says Sarah Tomassi Lindman, the VP of programming and production at The
N.

The channel’s runaway hit is Degrassi: The Next Generation,
which features a group of teenagers facing the trials and tribulations of high-
school life. The sixth season will premiere on September 29. “Degrassi is
nothing short of a cult hit,” says Lindman. “It’s really the only hit show on a
digital cable channel in the U.S. right now. The audience that follows Degrassi
has really embraced the other originals that we have put on the air and made
them strong enough that we are making second seasons out of them. That to me is
the best indicator of success.” One of those original series is South of
Nowhere, about a group of teens in Los Angeles, whose second season will also
premiere on September 29. Beyond the Break features a competitive girls surfing
team and is set in Hawaii. It bowed in the summer along with Whistler, a drama
set in a ski resort involving a mystery about the death of an Olympic
snowboarder.

Among The N’s acquired programs are classic sitcoms like The
Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which has a loyal following, and Moesha. Dawson’s
Creek premiered on August 14. “That was a signature teen drama and a really
excellent addition to The N’s lineup,” says Lindman. “We look for teen
characters and stories told from a teen point of view. But we also expect our
acquisitions to recruit new audiences for us. So we look for shows that have a
built-in fan base. We want to bring shows to the channel that will bring an
audience with them.”

WHAT’S NEW: It is
well known that teens are early adopters of new technologies and The N is
offering content on a number of new media outlets. Many of The N’s series are
available on iTunes and the channel is also producing original content for its
broadband video player called The Click, which can be found on www.the-n.com.
“At this point it’s all content that is based on our television shows,”
explains Lindman. “We have a series called Degrassi Minis, which are one- to
three-minute original segments featuring the Degrassi characters. We also have
webisodes for Degrassi, for Beyond the Break, for Whistler, and we’ll have them
for the second season of South of Nowhere. And for Degrassi’s sixth season
we’ll have behind the scenes content that you can take a look at on an episodic
basis. We are currently developing different kinds of [original content] for
digital distribution outlets.”

The N has recently revamped its website. “We launched a lot
of different community features on our website,” says Lindman. “You can
register and set up a profile page and send emails to different friends. You
can have a message board about what’s going on with you. We’re offering
features where our online community can really interact with each other in a
meaningful way about the content as well as about any topic they are interested
in.

“Our audience is really passionate about our content, which
is really exciting for us,” continues Lindman. “We are still a relatively small
channel; we are in about 50 million homes [in a cable universe of some 90
million homes]. And the passion our audience has for our content is what drives
our business.”

WEBSITE: www.the-n.com