Video from Channel One News 2/25/04 From Jim Metrock: Obligation has been asked to provide this video on the web site. Earlier this year, Channel One News shocked teachers and students with two extended reports about homosexual/ lesbian marriage. These February shows presented middle school students with images from seven gay weddings. One can...
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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.
Replay
Guest Host Plugs Questionable Show
From Jim Metrock: On Friday, November 5, schoolchildren forced to watch Channel One News saw their second “special” news anchor for the week. Jeremy Sumpter co-hosted the entire Channel One broadcast for middle and high school students. Sumpter is a TV actor for a struggling CBS show called Clubhouse. (On Monday, UPN paid to have an actress from their...
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Got Revenue?
Primedia is the parent company of Channel One. Today they released their 2004 third quarter earnings report. Below is the part that relates to Channel One News: "Education Segment revenues were $13.2 million in the third quarter 2004, flat when compared to third quarter 2003. Advertising revenues, which are all from Channel One, were...
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Veronica Mars
" These days, Veronica deals with her high school troubles during the day and helps her dad run a private detective agency at night. We’re not talking The Secret of the Old Clock. Seventeen-year-old Veronica is tracking down adulterers at sleazy motels and cops getting "favors" from exotic dancers. It’s a little much to...
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Not Too Smart
Warner Brothers movie studio once again needs the help of Channel One News. There is a new movie coming out called “The Polar Express.” It is based on the best-selling children’s book. WB, a major advertiser on Channel One has a huge amount of money involved in the movie. It is imperative that children see this movie in...
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Zapzyt
This is bad. Somebody ought to be fired. Waltman Pharmaceuticals makes an acne medicine called Zapzyt Acne Treatment Gel. They got caught trying to advertise the product on children’s television programs earlier this year. On July 29, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus announced that Waltman agreed to stop advertising during...
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Audience
Reality sinks in at Channel One News. From Jim Metrock in Bryant Park in New York City: Beautiful day in Bryant Park (right behind the New York Public Library). It is a beautiful little park that has a special feature I really like – free, high-speed, wireless Internet service. I have been in the Big Apple since Sunday and this...
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Herbal Essence
Everybody knows the outrageous TV ads for Clairol’s Herbal Essence shampoo. Recently, the company has toned down the “orgasmic/organic” angle and simply show images of women very happy using Herbal Essence. In September, Herbal Essence made its debut on Channel One News (both the high school feed and the middle school feed). The new ads don’t have the overt...
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Ominous News
Primedia is Channel One’s parent company. They have four divisions. One division is called Education and Training. This division has only three companies: Workplace Learning, Films for Humanities, and Channel One News. Primedia has repeatedly said this division is not doing well. These three companies remain "challenged" as company executives have told analysts in...
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No Programming VP, No Education VP
This is the third year that Channel One News has refused to hire a Education Vice President to replace Dr. Paul Folkermer who walked out in 2001. Education has never been a mission of Channel One News. They hired Folkermer, a NJ middle school principal who had allowed his school to be used for...
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