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.
Click for video. Originally posted August 21, 2010. The video is still factually correct except the number of schools under contract to Channel One and the number of students in Channel One’s audience are significantly less now. https://obligation.org/2011-09-08-shock-channel-one-news-loses-500000-students-within-three-months Because Channel One has been thrown out of so many secondary schools over the past eight...
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Many secondary schools under contract to show Channel One News to their students don’t honor the contract. For years Obligation has documented numerous ways schools violate the viewing terms of Channel One’s contract. [ex. MS, AL and TX, GA and TX, FL, NE, WY, IA and the notorious Pizitz Letters – Channel One admits their viewing...
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Did school administrators seek input from parents? From Jim Metrock: So, this fall Ashland Elementary School (Dumfries, VA) has agreed to make its 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders part of an experiment with the Channel One youth marketing firm. [A short video about Channel One. A brochure: 10 reasons to be glad you...
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to sell a new violent video game. From Jim Metrock: Oh the humanity. Oh the stupidity. Schoolchildren who are unfortunately in schools that have Channel One News began their school day yesterday, November 7, watching Hulk Hogan scream at them. “Here you go maniacs. Hulk Hogan here. The greatest of all time! I want...
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Paul Scott: Ads in Rochester schools would be a disservice to our children November 2, 2011 – Rochester (MN)Post Bulletin I was disappointed to see this newspaper support the idea of selling ad space in Rochester public schools. A proposal before the school board would allow advertising in the hallways and public spaces. Classrooms...
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Q: Why is Channel One advertising The Vampire Diaries to teens and preteens? A: Channel One News is constantly promoting The Vampire Diaries because the Vampire books and the TV show on the CW Network were created by Channel One’s parent company Alloy Media and Marketing....
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The Wastin’ Time and Tax Dollars Award has a new nominee. Powdersville Middle School in Greenville, SC joins three other nominees so far: Lardner Middle School, Niles, MI Avon Middle School North, Avon, IN Clark Middle School, Laredo, TX Powdersville Middle School principal is Todd Binnicker.
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Clark Middle School in Laredo, TX has been nominated for the Wastin’ Time and Tax Dollars Award. Rene Rodriguez principal of Clark Middle School, Laredo, TX, wastes school time by showing movie commercials (and other ads) on Channel One to his students. More on the Wastin’ Time and Tax Dollar Award and...
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