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.
/> Channel One News is controversial for a number of reasons. The commercials are probably the biggest reason a vast majority of US schools have refused to allow Channel One News to be shown to students. The contract between a school and Channel One states that there will be no more...
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From Channel One’s official scripts for April 7 and 8, 2011 (Our highlights in RED and our comments in BLUE): On April 7, 2011, Channel One News aired this irresponsible report on “binge” drinking: ‘DO YOU SEE GREAT RISK IN DRINKING 5 OR MORE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS A DAY?’ THAT’S THE QUESTION TEENS WERE ASKED...
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From Jim Metrock (March 30, 2011): Boy, did Channel One News hate this news. This resolution motivated a lot of school districts both in Alabama and in other states to end their contracts with Channel One. Martin Christie, Channel One’s lobbyist in Montgomery, AL, tried his best to mitigate the damage of this resolution,...
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From the Feb. 28, 2011 program – This has now become a routine way that Channel One News fills time between commercials.
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Video was removed due to complaint filed by Channel One News. Channel One News is contractually limited to have no more than 2 minutes a day of advertising, but on this day, they devote over 5 and a half minutes, of a 12-minute program, to promoting their most important advertiser — the U...
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Some of the content in this Channel One News-plugged/endorsed movie: Sex & Nudity Several sex scenes throughout, involving various states of undress (including underwear), and partial nudity. A man has a foot fetish, and makes sexual advances towards a woman’s feet. A pornographic website with a profane title is mentioned. A penis is...
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