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.
Is longtime Channel One hack Derrick Shore perusing the want ads? Only Errol Barnett, new-comer Melissa Knowles and Seth Doane remain as Channel One News anchors. Sofia Lidskog is gone after a year. Derrick Shore, who has been at Channel One for over five years was either given the boot or resigned. Obligation’s...
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Tony Hawk, on left, shamelessly using school time to make himself a ton of cash. Today, millions of students from 6th grade to high school seniors had to watch Tony Hawk promote himself, his video games, and his summer tour. Tony Hawk was given permission to co-host the entire show. If you notice the...
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Yesterday, Channel One’s parent company PRIMEDIA issued a press release announcing an extraordinary addition to Channel One’s web site. Here is the press release: Wow, a "resource page" that is created "to inform and educate young people." Channel One has created a resource that will "encourage them to take on a more active...
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Students see this mysterious website promoted on their classroom TV set. Commercials for Doritos have returned to Channel One News as of yesterday, May 17. Those who thought Channel One was phasing out their junk food ad campaigns will be disappointed. The current crop of ads end with a mysterious web site for children to write down...
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The TV shows that are advertised on Channel One News are often as offensive as their advertised movies. We have reported on the ugly Starlet TV show that has being heavily promoted on Channel One this school year. The Parents Television Council is a great organization that challenges the toxic popular culture that surrounds...
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Screen shots from Channel One News April 2005 The new CEO of Channel One News is Judy Harris. Obligation has tried to contact Ms. Harris since she accepted the Channel One job. She does not return emails or phone calls. We are beginning to see why she is reluctant to talk. She is taking Channel One News...
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The WB Network is a major advertiser on Channel One News. This is real bad news for parents. The Starlet is an American Idol rip-off where the winner gets a contract with Warner Brothers. Why are taxpayers subsidizing Warner Brother’s marketing? Ask your school board member. If your community’s schools are still showing Channel...
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Click on picture for Channel One ad. Federal regulations prohibit the sale of certain foods, determined to be of minimal nutritional value, in the school foodservice area during meal periods. In Texas, chewing gum is considered a "food of minimal nutritional value" or a FMNV. So why is Texas and other states that have...
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Actual screen shot from Channel One News. They just don’t learn. Channel One can’t stay away from the junk. Wrigley Gum has used Channel One for over a decade to sell gum to preteens and teens. Now, in 2005, Wrigley is reintroducing a "classic" gum from about thirty years ago – Hubba Bubba Bubble...
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Judy Harris, the new Channel One CEO, is quickly establishing herself as a hard-nosed marketer, just like her predecessor Jim “Sugar Daddy” Ritts. When the Wall Street Journal ran a story several weeks ago about a new intense brand of Gatorade being introduced, Obligation wrote Channel One News and asked them to not advertised the new “Endurance Formula” Gatorade...
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