Cartoon Network (India)
Cartoon Network is an Indian cable and satellite television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its international division. It is the Indian equivalent of the original American network and was launched on 1 May 1995 as the first television channel in India dedicated to children. The channel primarily airs animated programming in Hindi, English, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Tamil. CN also operates Pogo TV.
History
Launch
Cartoon Network was the first dedicated children's television channel in India, which was launched on 1 May 1995, as a dual-channel with Cartoon Network operating from 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Turner Classic Movies taking up the remainder of the daily schedule. On 1 July 2001, Cartoon Network India commenced daily full-day broadcasts.In early 2004, a separate feed of the channel dedicated to Pakistani and Bangladeshi viewers was launched.
1990s
Cartoon Network India initially only aired Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as The Yogi Bear Show, Top Cat, The Flintstones, and Scooby-Doo. The channel quickly started to develop, with them airing MGM cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, Droopy, and Spike and Tyke for the first time in 1996, and after Time Warner's purchase of Turner in 1996, Warner Bros. produced cartoons such as Looney Tunes in 1997. In 1998, Cartoon Network India began airing Cartoon Network originals, such as Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Moxy Show. In its early years, the channel broadcast only in English. At the time, the Indian market was able to understand English without creating language barriers, as the "link language in the subcontinent". Turner's initial strategy for India was all in English, devoid of subtitles and dubbing in national and regional languages, and catered the English-speaking niche, unlike its competitor Star TV. Bob Ross, president of Turner International at the time, was aiming a certain percentage of the English-fluent market, using its vast library assets. After capturing such percentage, there were possible plans to localise the signal to Tamil and Hindi.On 4 January 1999, the channel started to offer Hindi-dubbed versions of its shows, such as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Speed Racer, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, The Mask: Animated Series, The Addams Family, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Captain Planet, Tom & Jerry Kids and certain other select programs. Initially they air as daily two hours blocks. Anshuman Mishra, head of the channel, believed that the step had to be taken in October 1998 in order to reduce the influence of violent cartoons.
On 23 August 1999, the channel received a rebrand, introducing new bumpers, new shows and a new "powerhouse" theme. The new shows for 1999 were its original shows Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Johnny Bravo.
2000s
The following year, 2000, saw more Cartoon Network originals being introduced, including The Powerpuff Girls, Mike, Lu & Og, and Courage the Cowardly Dog. DC Animated Universe series started premiering in 2000s starting with Batman: The Animated Series followed by The Adventures of Batman and Robin, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League. On 28 February 2000, a Tamil feed was launched on the network.In 2001, Sheep in the Big City, Time Squad, and Samurai Jack premiered in India. On 1 July 2001, Cartoon Network became a 24-hour channel.
In September 2001, the Toonami block was introduced that primarily consists of Japanese anime and occasionally American action animation like Dragon Ball Z, Cardcaptors, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, and Superman: The Animated Series. A Night Shift block was introduced in November 2001 to target teens and adults. The programming included Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, The Brak Show, Galtar and the Golden Lance, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
In 2002, Cartoon Network signed deal with Mattel to air Barbie films starting with Barbie as Rapunzel, which premiered on 4 November 2002.
On 27 January 2003, Tiny TV, a preschool programming block, was launched. This block was later moved to sister channel Pogo TV. The channel also started acquiring local series and films in 2003 starting with The Adventures of Tenali Raman. Other acquisitions include series like The Adventures of Chhota Birbal, Akbar and Birbal, Jungle Tales and television films like Vikram and Betaal. Pokémon series was launched on 26 May 2003.
The anime series Beyblade was also launched on 3 June 2005, which enjoyed a No. 1 or No. 2 position in the kids genre, along with Pokémon.
On 1 October 2005, the bumpers were replaced with 3D animations of the 'CN City' that all the Cartoon Network toon characters lived in. Show-specific bumpers were replaced with 3D animations of a well-known scene from the particular show. The retro checkerboard logo was replaced with the new 'CN' city-style logo.
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee premiered on CN India on 11 September 2005.
Cartoon Network continued to air new episodes and seasons from Beyblade, Pokémon, and their movies, which continued to rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the kids' genre. Half Ticket Express a preschool block was launched which aired series like Dragon Tales, Franklin, and The Koala Brothers. Another programming block Thoda Meow Thoda Bow featuring Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries was launched on Children's Day.
On 12 April 2005, Cartoon Network aired Dragon Ball GT and a television special with Aamir Khan to promote Mangal Pandey: The Rising. In this interview style special Khan is interviewed by Johnny Bravo.
Camp Lazlo was launched on 12 February 2006.
On 10 October 2006, Cartoon Network began to air a new series, Ben 10.
Cartoon Network launched an action series titled Gransazers on the action block Toonami in January 2007 and later Justirisers on 7 March 2007, and the singer Shankar Mahadevan sang its title track in Hindi. The series after airing all episodes was replaced by Sazer X on 3 July 2007 in which Shaan sung the title track. The Boomerang programming block was launched in August 2007 which aired classic properties like Tom & Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Popeye, and Jackie Chan Adventures.
On 6 December 2008, Cartoon Network India, along with the other Asia Pacific feeds, featured an updated graphics package which was titled the "New Wave Era". It had the 'CN' logo tilted slightly diagonally, as opposed to the previous look of the "City Era".
A few days later, on 11 December 2008, Cartoon Network began to air the next series in the Ben 10 franchise, Ben 10: Alien Force. It also aired new Ben 10 movies.
On 28 June 2009, an episode of Johnny Bravo titled Johnny Goes to Bollywood was aired exclusively in India. The special was produced by Famous House of Animation in Mumbai.
Other notable series acquired by Cartoon Network India were The Adventures of Tintin, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Archie's Weird Mysteries, Jumanji, Transformers: Armada, and The Spectacular Spider-Man.
2010s
Cartoon Network started the third series in the Ben 10 franchise, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien on 10 October 2010. Cartoon Network launched Roll No. 21 in November 2010, multiple season and TV movies were launched after the success of first season. The new Beyblade series, Beyblade: Metal Fusion started airing from 11 October 2010.On 1 October 2011, Cartoon Network introduced its new branding and logo. Designed by Brand New School, it makes heavy use of the black and white checkerboard motif, as well as CMYK color variations and patterns. The slogan "It's a Fun Thing!" was also introduced. The second season Beyblade: Metal Masters started airing from 22 October 2011.
As the slogan suggests, comedy programs began to occupy most of the timeslots. While initially Tom and Jerry made up most of the time slots, later when Oggy and the Cockroaches was started on the Indian feed in July 2012, In 2012 Cartoon network added a Telugu audio track. CN began to air it hours together each day, which even continued until 2014. In January 2015, Cartoon Network India lost the rights to Oggy and the Cockroaches Seasons 1 to 3, but continued to air Season 4.
CN started the fourth series in the hit Ben 10 franchise, Ben 10: Omniverse on 26 November 2012.
Starting from the new era, "It's a Fun Thing", CN began to air shows without providing any information through airings on the channel, like on-air promos and bumpers. ThunderCats, Beyblade Metal Masters, Beyblade Metal Fury, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated were started with no information about air date and timings on the channel, and information present only on TV schedules.
Animated shows like Green Lantern: The Animated Series, DreamWorks Dragons, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, The Looney Tunes Show, and ThunderCats aired, but for some reason all of these shows aired only the first seasons, and the second seasons haven't been aired yet. In 2013, The third season Beyblade: Metal Fury started airing from 27 October 2013. Cartoon Network acquired the rights of Krrish franchise's animated film series Kid Krrish. The first movie Kid Krrish on 2 October 2013. The film was followed by three additional movies Kid Krrish: Mission Bhutan, Kid Krrish: Mystery in Mongolia, and Kid Krrish: Shakalaka Africa.
A television film Chakra: The Invincible based on the character created by Stan Lee aired on 30 November 2013.
CN moved the hit series Pokémon to its sister channel, in 2011, having aired until the eleventh season, but later brought it back on CN in 2014, starting from the fourteenth season of Pokémon Black and White.
In the summer of 2015, new shows like Uncle Grandpa, Beyblade: Shogun Steel, Clarence, and new episodes of Ben 10: Omniverse started to air. In May 2015, Cartoon Network India celebrated its 20th birthday with specials of various shows including specials from the classic The Flintstones. Starting June 2015, it started to air new promos for each new episode of weekly-once shows like Steven Universe, Ben 10: Omniverse, and Uncle Grandpa.
Cartoon Network celebrated the 20th Anniversary of its Indian feed throughout May 2015. A programming block Happy Birthday Cartoon Network which aired ongoing series like Horrid Henry and Oggy and the Cockroaches as well as classic series like The Flintstones, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
In December 2015, Cartoon Network aired two specials for the promotion of Hindi film Dilwale. The first special Kris Aur Shahrukh Khan Ki Dilwale Bollywood Class aired on 19 December while Oggy Ki Birthday Party aired on 25 December.
The Powerpuff Girls reboot series premiered on 9 April 2016 in India and other Asian Pacific countries while the Ben 10 reboot premiered on 8 October 2016.
Since 2016, CN India started showing the programmes in 16:9 aspect ratio, however Cartoon Network is still natively in 4:3.
In August 2017, Cartoon Network also aired some classic shows during weekend nights on a block called Get Tooned with Toonami, but was abruptly discontinued in October in favour of Dragon Ball Super.
On 10 June 2017, Cartoon Network premiered Craig of the Creek.
On 1 September 2017, the Bang Zoom dub of Dragon Ball Super started airing weekends on Cartoon Network at a later time slot without any promotion. It was previously aired on Toonami until it became a classic cartoon channel. In mid December 2017, Cartoon Network quietly started airing Dragon Ball Z movies on Sunday nights.
Dragon Ball Super replaced Dragon Ball Z's late night time slot from 1 January 2018 onwards.
In September 2018, Cartoon Network India started to premiere new shows such as Unikitty, OK K.O! Let's Be Heroes, Ben 10 Challenge, and Running Man.
The channel celebrated 20th anniversary of The Powerpuff Girls and announced a special "The Pow-fect Girls".
In July 2019, the channel premiered Mr. Magoo at 5PM every weekday.
Cartoon Network India brought back the Tom and Jerry franchise in 2019 with Tom and Jerry Tales and The Tom and Jerry Show . It was previously moved to Pogo TV.
Other notable television series launched in 2010s were Horrid Henry, Teen Titans Go!, and Mighty Magiswords.