Nickelodeon, the children's television station, gets its name from the early movie theatres of the same name, which cost five cents to enter (hence nickel.)

Nickelodeons first appeared in 1905 when John and Harry Davis decided to lower the price of admittance to their makeshift "theatre" (which was actually a storefront with a muslin screen attached to the wall, a box serving as an office and rented chairs) to 5 cents and just play the same movie continuously, instead of the traditional one show per night. Like the channel, they were also called "nick"s for short.

The term was later applied to jukeboxes and player pianos.