Does your school still have Channel One News?
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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.

Effort To Update Kids Ends

July 29, 2008
Effort To Update Kids Ends

It appears that Channel One has dropped The Summer Show. We suspect a mercy killing. This short, 2-minute video was their feeble attempt to update kids on news stories over the summer. There is no link or mention of The Summer Show on Channelone.com’s homepage or on their "News" page. This is interesting since...
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Struggling Channel One Delays Season One Week

July 25, 2008
Struggling Channel One Delays Season One Week

  Everything is slow and lazy at Channel One News this summer. Hannah Van Winkle and her Channel One Summer Show are still missing. Channel One’s feeble attempt to use Ms. Van Winkle to update young people on currents throughout the summer has been a complete disaster – just like last summer. Instead of...
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Channel One Begins Advertising Prescription Drugs To Kids

July 21, 2008
Channel One Begins Advertising Prescription Drugs To Kids

  Above is a snapshot we took of Channelone.com’s homepage on July 21, 2008. The banner ad at the top and the ad to the right are ads for two different PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. Pitching prescription drugs to teens and preteens marks a new and potentially dangerous turn for Channel One News. Although Channel One...
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Marketing Study Shows Parents Wary Of Ads Aimed At Students

July 19, 2008
Marketing Study Shows Parents Wary Of Ads Aimed At Students

  Respondents Were Open to Certain Promotions, Especially if Directed at Adults By Beth Snyder Bulik Published: June 25, 2008 YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — When it comes to advertising in and around schools, marketers should consider skipping children altogether and going straight to the top: mom. Programs like General Mills’ Box Tops for Education...
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The Summer Show 2008

July 18, 2008
The Summer Show 2008

Last year Channel One tried "The Summer Show" and the results were ugly. CLICK HERE. Now, Hannah Van Winkle is the face of the NEW and IMPROVED "Summer Show." Ms. Van Winkle is a new Channel One employee. In a terrible career move she left NBC for C1 – yipes! Hannah is the host...
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Matt and the Tooth Fairy

June 10, 2008
Matt and the Tooth Fairy

  During a recent conference call with investment analysts, Alloy’s CEO Matt Diamond stated that 75% of Channel One’s "about 6 million" student audience watched Channel One News each day. That begs the question: what planet is Matt Diamond from? Mr. Diamond has probably never graced the doorway of a classroom that has a...
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Lego

June 6, 2008
Lego

In 2006, Lego told Obligation that they would not be advertising on Channel One News. They have been true to their word up until this past month. Lego has been advertising a video game based on the new Indiana Jones movie. They wanted to build interest in the product before its June 3 debut....
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Channel One Down To 8,000 Schools

June 5, 2008
Channel One Down To 8,000 Schools

  During a conference call this afternoon, Alloy’s CEO Matt Diamond told listeners that Channel One was now in 8,000 schools. Five months ago, Channel One claimed 8,500 schools. This shows the loss of schools is continuing at an incredible rate of over 3 schools per day for the last five months. Obligation foresees...
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Get Smart

May 28, 2008
Get Smart

Channel One News is back to its old dirty tricks. The new movie Get Smart is a remake of the old TV series. This movie will be filled with content that is age-inappropriate for the majority of Channel One’s audience. The "Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd" DVD is a spin-off from the movie. It...
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Hold That China Story, This Just In…

May 22, 2008
Hold That China Story, This Just In…

The actresses of Alloy’s Traveling Pants 2 greet students as they begin to watch Channel One News.   The beginning of Channel One News – May 13, 2008 (SOT: )
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