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.

Back to Kumariland – The nonsense of Channel One News.

July 26, 2012
Back to Kumariland – The nonsense of Channel One News.

From Jim Metrock:  Channel One’s senior anchor is Jessica Kumari. She hasn’t reported on any news story since the first week of June. (Channel One News news reporting takes a vacation from reporting news stories during the summer months.) She has however written an article for the Channel One News “Right Now” blog. Why...
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Let Channel One News help you sell your product to kids. (1999)

July 26, 2012
Let Channel One News help you sell your product to kids. (1999)

No matter what your product or how useless it is, Channel One News can increase your sales because – get this – kids HAVE to be shown your commercials DURING the school day. It’s part of the contract.       c1reachmoreeffectivesaleslit1998
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From the archives: Texas paper calls for Channel One’s removal from all Texas schools (2002)

July 25, 2012
From the archives: Texas paper calls for Channel One’s removal from all Texas schools (2002)

  Costs of Channel One By David BloomThe Baytown Sun Published September 15, 2002 Channel One trade ad in Advertising Age: “We have the UNDIVIDED ATTENTION of millions of teenagers for 12 minutes a day. 8.1 million teenagers in classrooms nationwide … And since they’re not channel surfing, talking on the phone or getting...
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Channel One News Hall of Shame: “throughout the universe in perpetuity” (2005)

July 24, 2012
Channel One News Hall of Shame: “throughout the universe in perpetuity” (2005)

Originally published March 17, 2005. Kids don’t mess with Channel One’s attorneys. In 2012, the practice of using small print and large amounts of legal mumbo jumbo to confuse young people continues at Channel One News. Before we explain the strange language above, how about a little quiz? Watch this video clip from the end...
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As advertised on Channel One News: Jolly Rancher hard candy (March 24, 2003)

July 24, 2012
As advertised on Channel One News: Jolly Rancher hard candy (March 24, 2003)

Channel One News: Eating candy is fun! Popular, active young people like to eat candy, especially Jolly Rancher candy.  
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From the archives: No waste! No wearout! Just impact! (1999)

July 23, 2012
From the archives: No waste! No wearout! Just impact! (1999)

  Channel One News is a youth marketing company. The company exists for one main purpose: to bring commercial messages to hard to reach teen and preteen students.   “Lightest viewers” means students who don’t watch much TV at home. “Lightest viewers” usually means good students with their priorities in the right place. “Lightest...
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As advertised on Channel One News: Prescription Acuvue Advance contract lens (January 31, 2005)

July 23, 2012
As advertised on Channel One News: Prescription Acuvue Advance contract lens (January 31, 2005)

From Jim Metrock: Channel One News tells kids they are ugly if they wear glasses. The only ugly people are the thuggish Channel One kiddie marketers who approve tough ads like this in middle and high schools.    
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Creepy, controversial advertiser appears on Channel One. What’s new?

July 22, 2012
Creepy, controversial advertiser appears on Channel One. What’s new?

From Jim Metrock: This creepy banner ad appeared this week on Channelone.com. Clicking on the ad sends kids straight to the page below. This is the controversial Spokeo.com site. http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-spokeo-website-privacy-concerns-033110,0,2433092.story http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2010/04/07/spokeo-com-scam.htm I typed in Paul Folkemer’s email address to see what would happen. Folkemer is a top executive for Channel One. He doesn’t appear...
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From the archives: A Sense of the Board Statement

July 21, 2012
From the archives: A Sense of the Board Statement

  From Jim Metrock: I always found this “Sense of the Board Statement” on Channel One to be bizarre. This is from the 2000 Iowa City Community School District school board. This board has the right idea and gathered the pros and cons about Channel One twelve years ago but they refused to do...
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Complete, unedited Channel One News for December 18, 2000

July 20, 2012
Complete, unedited Channel One News for December 18, 2000

Channel One News removes the commercials before streaming them for parents at channelone.com. This program has the ads in them. Parents have a right to see what their child sees.    
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