When did Nickelodeon network start?
History of Nickelodeon
December 1, 1977
Nickelodeon's history dates back to December 1, 1977, when QUBE,[1] the first two-way major market interactive cable television system was launched in Columbus, Ohio by Warner Cable Corp. One of the ten "community" channels that were offered at no additional charge to QUBE subscribers was C-3, which exclusively carried Pinwheel each day from 7:00a.m. to 9:00p.m. Eastern Time.[2] Nickelodeon was developed by Dr. Vivian Horner, who worked as director of research on the PBS series The Electric Company and who had created Pinwheel for QUBE (one of Nickelodeon's earliest series, which spun off from the C-3 service), along with Warner Cable CEO Gus Hauser. Nickelodeon was originally used as a loss leader for then-parent company Warner Cable.[3] As the company saw it, having a commercial-free children's channel would prove useful in franchising its cable systems across the country, with that advantage putting them over rival companies such as HBO.