Simon & Schuster and Nickelodeon Extend Partnership

Posted on February 3, 1998

Viacom Inc. sister companies Simon & Schuster and Nickelodeon®, the number-one television network for children, announced an extension of their highly successful exclusive agreement to publish Nickelodeon-based books. Simon & Schuster already has 8.5 million books derived from Nickelodeon programming in print. The new agreement calls for hundreds of new titles geared toward the growing children's market. The announcement was made jointly by Jack Romanos, President of the Simon & Schuster Consumer Publishing Group, and Herb Scannell, President of Nickelodeon.

The deal renews Simon & Schuster's exclusive right to publish books based on all properties currently appearing or set to appear on Nickelodeon, and for which Nickelodeon controls publishing rights.

The agreement continues nearly four years of Simon & Schuster Nickelodeon-based publishing which emerged from Viacom's acquisition of the publisher in 1994. Since the October 1994 publication of Nickelodeon's The Big Help: 365 Ways You Can M ake A Difference by Volunteering, more than 120 original novels, novelizations, nonfiction, picture, and board books have been published by Pocket Books and the Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing division, including bestselling books based on the hit properties Rugrats, The Secret World of Alex Mack and Good Burger, Nickelodeon's successful second feature film.

The major 1998 initiative for the partners is Rugrats: The Movie, set to release in November with nine titles aimed at children and adults. This year Simon & Schuster and Nickelodeon will also launch new book projects based on Blue's Clues, The Journey of Allen Strange, Kenan and Kel, and All That, a variety show which airs in the Saturday evening SNICK programming block.