Aimed primarily at teens and tweens,[1][2] its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from sister channel Nickelodeon.
The channel launched on September 28, 2009, as the merger between two defunct programming blocks which also targeted a teenage audience: TEENick on Nickelodeon and The N on Noggin.
[3] Nick Cannon, the original host of the TEENick block on Nickelodeon, was described in publicity materials as the chairman of TeenNick[4] as well as its programming consultant.
TEENick's programming mainly consisted of live-action comedies, such as Drake & Josh, Ned's Disclassified: School Survival Guide, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP and iCarly, as well as occasional reruns of animated shows such as All Grown Up!
— migrated to The N. The block spawned several original series, including the animated comedy O'Grady and the live-action dramas Out There and South of Nowhere.
Like the rest of the Noggin channel, The N's original shows were created with educational goals,[7] which was uncommon for teen programming at the time.
On August 13, 2007, Viacom announced that it would shut down Nick GAS at the end of the year, with a 24-hour version of The N taking over its channel space.
[8][9] According to Polygon, "Nickelodeon began phasing out The N's programming and replacing it with TEENick, an entertainment block with no educational curriculum and zero involvement from Noggin.
In July 2011, TeenNick began carrying programs originally filmed for high-definition broadcast in a letterboxed format, due to the absence of an HD simulcast feed of the channel.
To align itself with Nickelodeon's cross-platform branding, the block was renamed three times: to "The Splat" on October 5, 2015;[14] to "NickSplat" on May 1, 2017;[15] and to its final name "NickRewind" on March 18, 2019.
On April 20, 2011, TeenNick announced that it had acquired the rights to air Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting in May, though this was short-lived and it returned to FX (and later, Pivot) within a matter of months.
The last original program exclusive to TeenNick, the music video countdown show TeenNick Top 10, was cancelled in 2018, commiserate with Viacom's new 'six prime networks' strategy effectively cutting out all but Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. from airing original children's series on their network spaces.
On July 15, 2019, the network began to broadcast in primetime a mixture of content from MTV, including reruns of Teen Wolf and My Super Sweet 16, and series which originated as YouTube Originals from recent Viacom acquisition AwesomenessTV (a company founded by Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins and frequent co-collaborator Joe Davola).
In July 2020, Cannon was fired from all roles at ViacomCBS due to anti-Semitic statements, though later returned after making several apologies and amends for his behavior.