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.

Sneaky Advertising

August 2, 2007
Sneaky Advertising

The mission of Alloy.com is to sell as many things as possible to young female visitors to their site. Alloy employs many methods of getting a young person to part with their money. Below is one example. This screen shot of an Alloy story looks like a “how-to” article. The helpful people at Alloy...
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Advertising Age On NBC, Alloy, Channel One

August 1, 2007
Advertising Age On NBC, Alloy, Channel One

What Exactly Are NBC, Alloy Getting Into With Channel One Deals? Controversial Ad-Supported In-School News Network Might Be an Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone. By Simon Dumenco Advertising Age July 16, 2007 In the past year or so, my colleague Claire Atkinson has been reporting on the slow-motion disintegration of the once-mighty...
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A Deal From Hell

July 25, 2007
A Deal From Hell

  It a startling development, NBC News announced two weeks ago that they will become a major partner with the controversial Channel One company. NBC will provide much of the news content on the show starting this fall. NBC wants to capitalize on Channel One’s captive audience to create a brand preference among teens...
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The Lazy Days Of Summer

July 12, 2007
The Lazy Days Of Summer

Channel One’s webcast for July 12 is a replay of the June 20 show. There has been no news for young people in 23 days. News has a long shelf life at Channel One News.   Yipes! We checked Channel One News’s web site this morning for their latest "Summer Show" which was designed...
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The Summer Show

July 4, 2007
The Summer Show

Anchor Eileen Wu does as little as possible on The Summer Show. Poor Channel One News, they just can’t do anything right. The latest example of incompetence is "The Summer Show." Wait ’til you hear about this one. For years we have chastised Channel One News for not delivering more news to young people....
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Massachusetts Looks At School Ads

June 5, 2007

Lawmakers Weigh Ban On Marketing In Schools; Critics Say Ads Increase Obesity, Family Stress http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/13434179/detail.html BOSTON — Critics say it’s an insidious threat to school children — responsible for everything from obesity and family stress to gender stereotyping and financial woes. It’s marketing, and lawmakers in Massachusetts are weighing a bill that would ban...
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Can’t Finish The Race

May 25, 2007
Can’t Finish The Race

Cali Carlin (second from right) says she will no longer be at Channel One. Others may be gone over the summer. Once Channel One News had eight full-time anchors. Channel One News is wrapping up their broadcast year today, Friday, May 25. Normally the last broadcast would be NEXT Friday, June 1. It is...
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An Imaginary Interview With Judy Harris

May 8, 2007
An Imaginary Interview With Judy Harris

  Jim Metrock conducts a fake interview with Channel One’s president Judy Harris.   From Jim Metrock: I have given up on actually talking with Judy Harris. I have emailed her, called her, and I have gone by her office in New York City several times (I never got past the desk in the...
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“de minimis”

May 3, 2007
“de minimis”

Primedia Chairman ecstatic over dumping of Channel One.   Primedia’s chairman Dean Nelson answered questions about the embarrassing "sale" of Channel One during today’s First Quarter financial conference call. One analyst asked if there was any tax benefit from the sale of Channel One. After all, Primedia, then known as K-III Communications, had bought...
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William Weldon

May 2, 2007
William Weldon

William Weldon Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson First inductee into the Public Education Hall of Shame   The new owners of Channel One are bringing back product ads to the in-school TV show. Virtually all product advertisers have disappeared from the show over the last three years. Alloy, Inc. have bought a ticking...
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