Sunday, April 12, 2015

Viacom Reportedly In Talks To Launch Channels On Apple's Rumored Subscription TV Service

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), the parent company of the Nickelodeon brand, is in talks with Apple to bring to its bouquet of cable channels, including Nickelodeon, to Apple's rumored subscription TV service!


Apple is working on a Web-based subscription TV service that would stream channels to customers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The service is expected to feature about 25 channels in total at launch, ABC, CBS, and Fox. It's believed that Apple will announce the service, similar to Dish's Sling TV and Sony's PlayStation Vue, in June 2015 ahead of a Fall launch, and that it could cost between $25 and $40 per month for streaming on all devices running Apple's iOS operating system, including the Apple TV set-top box and iPad.

Nickelodeon recently launched Noggin, a new mobile subscription service for preschoolers which features an abundant volume of long- and short-form content for preschoolers, with additional content added regularly. Available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the paid service is ad-free and offered for $5.99 a month.

Additional sources: CNET, iLounge News, TIME.
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Iloura Brings CG Expertise To "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water"

Original Iloura Press Release via Animation World Network:

Iloura Brings CG Expertise to 'The SpongeBob Movie'

Australian animation and visual effects studio completes 550 shots for the 3D/2D/live-action hybrid feature, including building and animating the SpongeBob entourage for their big-screen CG debut.


Australian animation and visual effects studio Iloura brought SpongeBob SquarePants and his merry band of friends to CG life for his second feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water. Completing 550 shots for the 3D/2D/live-action hybrid, Iloura was appointed the important task of building and animating the SpongeBob entourage for its big screen debut as CG characters.

Iloura's VFX Supervisor Glenn Melenhorst and Executive Producer Ineke Majoor employed more than 100 artists and worked closely with Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon, Director Paul Tibbett and SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg to ensure that the transition of the SpongeBob team of characters from 2D to 3D was as smooth and authentic as possible. With more than 15 years living on-screen as 2D characters and with a huge fan base of adults and children, it was essential to all on the production team that the 3D versions of the much-loved companions retained their aesthetic.

"We knew we had a huge responsibility with this film, as the audience is seeing the SpongeBob cast for the very first time as 3D characters and that transition was extremely important to Paul and Stephen," Melenhorst said. "We spent a lot of time in the design phase and R&D drawing on the essence of the 2D characters, but also focused a lot of attention on the rigging and modelling before going in to animation. Every step of the pipeline was important to ensure that we didn't move away from what the audience know and love about SpongeBob and his friends."

Iloura's work extended to the super hero versions of the characters, which provided a fun and unique way to play with the cast and the story.

Further work included Burger Beard's (Antonio Banderas) ship, CG seagulls, pelicans, cannon balls and a fighting skeleton pirate. Careful attention was also paid to the environments which included streetscapes, beaches, and a CG Pelican Island.

"A lot of the authenticity of the SpongeBob characters was reliant on how they appeared in their environments," Melenhorst added. "We knew that if they didn't interact naturally in the outside world we would lose the trust of the audience, so we invested a lot into the environments and concentrated on detail such as lighting and the interaction with sand particles on the beach for instance."

"Iloura was able to seamlessly design and animate the new 3D characters to match the nuances of the beloved 2D SpongeBob and friends," said Iloura co-Producer/VFX producer Lori J. Nelson. "In addition, we threw seagulls, snakes, spiders, a skeleton and a few other CG assets their way, which they produced to a level that any VFX facility would be proud of."

"The creativity and quality of Iloura's work exceeded our expectations," said Craig Sost, Executive Producer, Paramount Animation. "They eagerly and willingly handled any challenge we threw at them."

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water released in U.S. cinemas on February 6, 2015 and took the top spot on its opening weekend, grossing $56 million for its debut. The film releases in Australian cinemas April 2, 2015.



Source: Iloura

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Nickelodeon Africa To Premiere "Max & Shred" On Monday 13th April 2015; Debuts "Get Blake!"

Nick Africa has announced in a series of posts on their official Facebook profile page, Facebook.com/NickelodeonAfrica, the exciting Nickelodeon International News that Nickelodeon Africa will start to premiere and show Nickelodeon and Breakthrough Entertainment's brand-new live-action buddy-comedy series "Max & Shred" from Monday 13th April 2015 at 19:10 CAT!


To celebrate Nickelodeon Africa starting to air "Max & Shred", NickelodeonAfrica.com has unveiled Nick Africa's all-new official "Max & Shred" show website, which features information about the brand new live action show and a 'Meet The Characters' section featuring bios about the characters in the show - Alvin "Shred" Ackerman , Max Asher (Jonny Gray), Jill "Howie" Finch (Saara Chaudry), and Abby Ackerman (Emilia McCarthy)!

To celebrate Nickelodeon Portugal starting to air "Max & Shred", Nickelodeon.pt has unveiled Nick Portugal's all-new official "Max & Shred" show website, which features information about the brand new live action show and a 'Meet The Characters' section featuring bios about the characters in the show - Alvin "Shred" Ackerman (Jake Goodman, "Life with Boys"), Max Asher , Jill "Howie" Finch (Saara Chaudry), and Abby Ackerman (Emilia McCarthy)!


"Max & Shred" chronicles the hilarious and unlikely friendship between Max Asher (Jonny Gray), a celebrity snowboarder, and Alvin "Shred" Ackerman (Jake Goodman, "Life with Boys"), a science whiz-kid, who become roommates and instant "bros" when Max moves to Colorado to train for the Winter Cup. The two boys must work to become friends and learn to navigate the trials of teenage life from completely opposite points of view. It's gonna be siiiiick!


This season on "Max & Shred", the boys will find themselves in hilarious situations that everyday teens' experience. From liking the same girl to navigating the crazy halls of high school to fighting over who gets a new room, Max and Shred may approach life differently but in the end, they always have each other's back.


"Max & Shred" (26 X 30) is created by writing partners Ben MacMillan and Josh Greenbaum whose credits include CW's "Swordfighting", CBS's "Homeland Insecurity" and the Paramount feature film "The Mascot". The series is executive produced by George Doty IV who is no stranger to the Nickelodeon family having written and co-executive produced some of the networks biggest hit shows including "iCarly", "Victorious" and the beloved buddy-comedy series "Drake & Josh". Nickelodeon and Breakthrough Entertainment recently commissioned a second season of "Max & Shred".


Additionally, Nickelodeon Africa recently started to premiere and show "Get Blake!", a brand-new exciting cartoon style comedy series filled with visual gags and delirious characters, weekdays at 14:25 CAT on Monday 6th April 2015!
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Nickelodeon France To Premiere "Get Blake!" On Monday 13th April 2015; "Bella and the Bulldogs" In May 2015

Nickelodeon France has announced the exciting news in a post on their official Facebook profile page, facebook.com/nickelodeonfrance, that Nick France will start to premiere the show "Get Blake!", a brand-new exciting cartoon style comedy series filled with visual gags and delirious characters, locally titled "Objectif Blake!", on Monday 13th April 2015 at 3:30pm (15h30)!


To celebrate, Nickelodeon France's official website, nickelodeon.fr, has unveiled the channels official "Objectif Blake!" show website, which features information about the all-new animated series and the characters in the show - Blake Myers, Mitch De La Cruz, Léonard, Maxus, Jérôme and Skye - plus a exclusive video clip!

Plus, to further celebrate Nickelodeon debuting "Objectif Blake!", Nickelodeon France has unveiled a fantastic video clip featuring the first few minutes from the first episode of "Objectif Blake!" on their official YouTube channel, which you can watch in the online streaming video clip below!:



Additionally, Nickelodeon France has announced in their brand-new promo, below, that Nickelodeon 4Teen will start to premiere and show Nickelodeon's brand-new original comedy series "Bella and the Bulldogs" ("Bella et les Bulldogs"), in which a head cheerleader's life takes an unexpected twist when her rifle-like throwing arm takes her from the sidelines to becoming her middle school's starting quarterback, in May 2015!:


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Nickelodeon Russia and CIS To Premiere "Blaze And The Monster Machines" On Monday 13th April 2015

Nickelodeon Russia has announced the exciting Nickelodeon International news in the news slider on the homepage of their official website and in a post on their official Facebook profile page, Facebook.com/NickelodeonRussia, that Nickelodeon Russia and CIS (Россия and СНГ) will start to premiere and show "Blaze and the Monster Machines" (locally titled "Вспыш и Чудо-машинки"), Nickelodeon's brand-new CG-animated preschool series that will introduce viewers to the exciting world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), on Monday 13th April 2015 at 10:45am!


To celebrate Nick Russia and CIS starting to air "Blaze and the Monster Machines", Nickelodeon.ru has unveiled Nick Россия and СНГ's all-new official "Вспыш и Чудо-машинки" show website to accompany the brand new show, which features information about the series and each of the characters in the show - Вспыш (Blaze), Эй-Джей (AJ), Гэбби (Gabby), Крушила (Crusher), Огурчик (Pickle), Смельчак (Darington), Старла (Starla), Рык (Stripes) and Зэг (Zeg)!


Additionally, Nickelodeon Russia and CIS also recently debuted Nickelodeon's quazy all-new original animated series (Nicktoon) "Breadwinners" ("Хлебоутки") on Saturday 11th April 2015 at 8:45am and is currently premiering brand-new episodes of "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn" ("Никки, Рикки, Дикки и Дон")!
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Nickelodeon Australia and New Zealand To Premiere "Every Witch Way" Season 3 On Monday 13th April 2015

Nickelodeon Australia has announced the magical news in a series of posts on their official Facebook profile page, Facebook.com/NickelodeonAustralia, that Nickelodeon Australia and New Zealand will start to premiere and show brand-new episodes from the all-new third season of Nickelodeon's hit fantasy television series "Every Witch Way", beginning with the season opener, "Beachside 7", every Monday to Thursday at 6:00pm AEST/NZST from Monday 13th April 2015!


"Every Witch Way" season three will be hotter than ever! In "Every Witch Way" season 3, it's a new year, and there's a new girl, Mia (Elizabeth Elias), who's causing new trouble. Mia is a mysterious troublemaker and rebellious Kanay who is used to getting her way and dislikes being vulnerable. She arrives in Miami driven by a deep desire for revenge... but her plans become complicated once she falls for Daniel (Nick Merico). Meanwhile, Diego Rueda (Tyler Alvarez), Daniel Miller (Nick Merico) and Emma Alonso (Paola Andino) are working at The Beachside Seven, the gang's new hangout where Maddie Van Pelt (Paris Smith), her fellow Panthers Katie Rice (Denisea Wilson) and Sophie Johnson (Autumn Wendel), and Andi Cruz (Daniela Nieves) hang out, and Jax Novoa (Rahart Adams) is stuck attending Rebel's Boot Camp as punishment for trying to destroy the Magic Realm. Things will be heating up, so don't miss a magical moment in the third brand-new season of "Every Witch Way"!


EVERY WITCH WAY SEASON 3 GALLERY: Pictured: Sophie (Autumn Wendel), katie (Denisea Wilson), Maddie (Paris Smith), Diego (Tyler Alvarez), Jax (Rahart Adams), Emma (Paola Andino), Daniel (Nick Merico), Mia (Elizabeth Elias), Andi (Daniela Nieves), and Gigi (Zoey Burger) in Every Witch Way on Nickelodeon. Photo: Terry Doyle/Nickelodeon. ©2014 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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