Does your school still have Channel One News?
Learn how to unplug

Houghton Mifflin/Channel One News

Channel One News is a youth marketing company whose main purpose is to get advertising to a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren. The company loans a school TV equipment in exchange for the school’s contractual pledge to show students a daily, 12-minute, hyper-commercial, TV program called Channel One News. Students lose one hour a week of schools time, which equates to one lost week of instructional time (32 hours) per year. No educational organization endorses the use of Channel One News.

Channel One has fallen on very hard times. Once they claimed over 8 million students were under contract. Since 1997 they have continued to lose schools and now they claim “nearly five million” students and the true figure is probably lower.

In May 2014, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired Channel One from ZelnickMedia the makers of the ultra-violent Grand Thief Auto video game series. Houghton Mifflin did not disclose the purchase price.

At the end of 2014 most of Channel One’s full-paying advertisers have abandoned the program.

NBC Cutting Expenses

October 23, 2008
NBC Cutting Expenses

NBC Universal to cut 3 percent of 2009 budget: report Sun Oct 19, 2008 (Reuters) – NBC Universal, the broadcasting unit of General Electric Co, plans to cut $500 million from next year’s budget, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday. NBC Universal said the cuts will amount to 3...
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Forbes Article

October 22, 2008
Forbes Article

Entrepreneurs Teen Machine Helen Coster 10.22.08, 6:00 PM ET Forbes Magazine   Matthew Diamond Alloy comes up with some of the hottest books and flicks for teens. So why isn’t it, like, profitable? In the world of Alloy Entertainment’s books and television shows, the girls are naughty. In The A-List book series Camilla Sheppard...
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Sinking The Bismarck For 15 Years

October 14, 2008

This is an article based on a TV report from Bismarck, ND. Incredibly, the school administrators in Bismarck are realizing that one hour a week of TV may not be the best use of school time. Here is a great example of how a school district is fleeced by Channel One News. The school...
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Sex Drive

October 11, 2008
Sex Drive

  From Jim Metrock: What an ugly coincidence. A day after I wrote about Channel One News airing their bizarre “Rectal Experiment” commercial in middle schools promoting their sister Alloy Media and Marketing company FindTuition.com, I receive an email from FindTuition.com promoting Alloy’s newest sex/drug/alcohol movie for young people called Sex Drive. Notice that Alloy...
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And Now For The Experiment On Your Rectum

October 10, 2008
And Now For The Experiment On Your Rectum

  A painful commercial that young people had to watch in September and October 2008.   This commercial is for a sister company of Channel One News. "Describe the picture, please," the doctor says. This is suppose to be a "funny"ad that shows how desperate students have become in their search for tuition money....
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You Don’t Mind Giving Us Your Personally Identifiable Information, Do You?

October 7, 2008
You Don’t Mind Giving Us Your Personally Identifiable Information, Do You?

Forget Val Emmich for the time being. That’s a story for another day. It’s the "Win a $500 shopping spree" ad that should interest parents and educators. When a young person clicks on the box, they come to the page below. To enter the "sweepstakes" they have to give up a lot of personal...
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Folkemer’s Follies

October 2, 2008
Folkemer’s Follies

  On September 30, sixth grade students looked up as Channel One News began its daily broadcast. Something was different today. Instead of a Channel One reporter greeting the students, Kat Dennings and Michael Cera, two actors in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, introduced themselves. They plug their movie (a violation of Channel One’s...
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Channel One News Keeps Plugging Teen Drinking Show

September 30, 2008
Channel One News Keeps Plugging Teen Drinking Show

Tonight’s 90210 has more teen drinking scenes. We have asked Channel One News and specifically Dr. Paul Folkemer, VP of Education, to end all advertising for TV shows and movies that encourage and promote underage drinking. Dr. Folkemer refuses to respond to our pleas, so we have put some words in his mouth. Dr....
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An Imaginary Interview With Martha Doyle

September 19, 2008
An Imaginary Interview With Martha Doyle

  From Jim Metrock: Welcome to a fake interview with Martha Doyle president of EF Educational Tours. Ms. Doyle’s company has recently started advertising on Channel One News. Her commercials are now frequently heard blaring from classroom TV sets. I wrote Ms. Doyle and asked her to reconsider her support of Channel One. She...
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Channel One Pitches Sleazy 90210 To Kids

September 13, 2008
Channel One Pitches Sleazy 90210 To Kids


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