Cartoon Network (United Kingdom and Ireland)
Cartoon Network is a British pay television channel aimed at children which airs animated programming targeting children and young aged 6 to 12. It is run by Warner Bros. Discovery under its EMEA division. The channel primarily airs animated programming.
The channel initially launched on 17 September 1993 as a larger pan-European feed, serving the UK market along with Western and Northern Europe. In August 1999, the pan-European aspect of Cartoon Network Europe was spun-off as a new feed with an identical schedule to Cartoon Network UK. Cartoon Network UK completely ceased being a pan-European feed on 15 October 1999, which was when it was scrambled with Videocrypt and the launch of the UK only version of TNT. The pan-European feed continued to shadow Cartoon Network UK's schedule until 2001. The pan-European feed excluded shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Angela Anaconda and were substituted, as Cartoon Network did not have the pan-European broadcasting rights to these shows, only the rights for the UK and the Netherlands.
History
Pre-launch
In October 1992, the original Cartoon Network channel was launched in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. Cartoon Network was created in response to Turner Entertainment acquiring MGM's animation library in 1986 and the acquisition of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio and cartoon library in 1991. As a result of Turner purchasing MGM's Cartoon and Film library, Warner Bros. pre-1948 content was also acquired, including early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts. At launch in the United States, Cartoon Network had an 8,500-hour cartoon library, and became the first channel dedicated strictly to cartoons.With the Cartoon Network's large animation library being in high demand in Western Europe and as a response to consumer demand, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced in March 1993 that they would launch Cartoon Network in Europe. The channel would be located within the Astra 1C satellite, itself launching in May 1993 on board an Ariane 42L rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.
Launch (1993–1996)
Cartoon Network Europe officially launched on 17 September 1993, being the third version of the channel to launch after the Latin American feed. It launched only less than 12 months after the original American version and only 16 days after Nickelodeon. The channel was broadcast free-to-air throughout Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Nordic territories, and timeshared with TNT Classic Movies, of which it would air from 5:00 AM–7:00 PM and TNT would take over afterward. In the UK, while rival Nickelodeon was a pay-TV network through the Sky Multichannels service, Cartoon Network remained free-to-air in the country.Strands that existed on the channel included "Super Chunk", which showed back to back episodes of one show for two hours between 1pm and 3pm on Sunday afternoons. Another strand was "The Longest Day", in which Cartoon Network ran for an extra four hours until 11:00 PM in June 1994, every year beginning in 1994. This slot was dedicated to full-length cartoon movies. The first theme was the Checkerboard theme, which showed graphics from its US counterpart and lasted until 1999. The Checkerboard branding package was developed by Hatmaker Studios, now merged and part of its sister company - Corey, McPherson and Nash.
By 1996, the combined CN/TNT channel slot was available in over 31 million homes in over 33 territories.
Expansion (1996-1999)
In September 1996, Cartoon Network expanded its broadcast hours by two, ending broadcasts at 9:00 PM. Beginning in December 1996, a 24-hour version of the network and TNT was launched on the Astra 1G satellite through select European digital cable providers, although it was not made available in the UK as the timesharing version remained on all providers in the country. The 24-hour version launched in the UK on CableTel beginning in 1997. Also, in February 1997, Dutch cable provider A2000/KTA added the 24-hour Cartoon Network and TNT channels to its programming lineup.On 15 November 1998, the 24-hour version was added to ONdigital and remained until the service's collapsed on 1 May 2002. A month later, it was added to the Sky Digital satellite platform on the Astra 2A satellite. On the same day, a one-hour timeshift service, Cartoon Network 2, also launched. In March 1999, Cartoon Network 2 was renamed to Cartoon Network Plus to better represent its status as a timeshift service.
Separation from Pan-European version
During the late 90s and the early 2000s, Turner Entertainment Networks International started localising their channels to suit different audiences across different countries around Europe, Middle East and Africa.This soon concluded on 15 October 1999 when Cartoon Network Europe officially split to exclusively focus on the United Kingdom and Ireland markets. The shared transponder analogue feed on Astra 1C became scrambled with VideoCrypt and Cartoon Network officially became encrypted, becoming a pay service. The separation of feeds was to allow Turner Classic Movies to replace TNT Classic Movies in all territories except for analogue satellite and cable in the UK and Ireland, where a standalone TNT channel would replace it. Prior to this date, the European version of Cartoon Network moved to Sirius II to serve Central Europe in August 1999 and the French and Spanish version launched at the same time the same month, leaving the ex pan-European version on Astra 1C acting as a de facto free to air secondary/transitional European feed for countries preparing to switchover to their own newly launched local versions of Cartoon Network up until encryption in October 1999. TNT changed its programming from classic movies to general entertainment as the movies were moved to TCM. The new version of TNT ended its run on 1 July 2000 and TCM took over its former space on Analogue satellite and some cable providers, and removed entirely on those that already broadcast TCM.
Post-pan European split
After the pan-European split, Cartoon Network revamped on 15 October 1999 with the launch of a unique and more intensive variant of the "Powerhouse" theme which had shapes and tiles with lines and footage of characters from various shows shown on Cartoon Network. This lasted until 1 September 2002 in the UK and was used throughout Europe on 30 September 2002. The European version of Powerhouse was produced by now-defunct London based animation and design studio AMGFX. A DJ theme was used during the AKA Cartoon Network programming block, bumpers include a live-action DJ scratching a record, which affects the playback of a cartoon clip.On 30 June 2001, the analogue feed on Astra 1C of Cartoon Network and TCM ceased broadcasting. Sky's analogue service would later fully shut down on 27 September that year.
On 14 December 2001, Cartoon Network Interactive was launched via the Sky Gamestar area, and included two games, Samurai Jack in Aku's Robo Dojo and The Powerpuff Girls in Crystal Crisis, courtesy of Danish operator Visionik Intertactive.
On 11 April 2005, after it was introduced in the United States, Cartoon Network adopted the CN City era until 23 May 2007.
2010–2020
On 27 September 2010, the British version of Cartoon Network introduced its current branding and logo while Cartoon Network Too continued to use the Arrow era until 2012 and the 2004 logo was still used as the network's production logo until 14 April 2013. Designed by Brand New School, it makes heavy use of a black and white checkerboard motif, as well as various CMYK colour variations and patterns. This branding had been introduced earlier in the American version on 29 May 2010. The DOG was moved from the top right corner to the bottom right corner, like in the United States.In August 2011, Turner Broadcasting System Europe EMEA announced that an HD simulcast of Cartoon Network would launch on 14 September. The launch would coincide with the channel's eighteenth birthday and the premiere of a new original series produced in the UK: The Amazing World of Gumball.
On 1 April 2014, Cartoon Network's DOG moved back to the top-right corner and a new Next banner using graphics from the Check It 3.0. branding package was introduced. Also during the same month, Cartoon Network Too closed down and was replaced by a reinstated one-hour timeshift service called Cartoon Network +1, which closed down on 5 March 2006. Cartoon Network's Check It 3.0 was fully implemented on Cartoon Network on 21 July 2014 for the official start of the school summer holidays in the UK, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu also premiered on the channel on the same day. In November 2015, Cartoon Network launched their anti-bullying campaign in conjunction with Childline called Cartoon Network Buddy Network.
After nearly two years of the Laughternoons programming block was replaced by Mega Mondays on 14 April 2014, Laughternoons returned to Cartoon Network for a short period in January 2016. Mega Mondays was the name of Cartoon Network's new episodes programming block for three years before being discontinued in July 2017. It was replaced with New Fridays in March 2018.
In October 2015, Cartoon Network launched their own localised version of the Cartoon Network Anything app, featuring short-form content such as mini-games and video-clips. In February 2016, Cartoon Network used graphics from the Check It 4.0 branding package for the first time on a new episode promo for Transformers: Robots in Disguise. On 22 July 2016, Cartoon Network fully rebranded using graphics from the Check It 4.0 branding package. In April 2016, Cartoon Network signed a deal with Sky for exclusive on-demand boxset rights for a selection of its animated shows. In November 2016, Cartoon Network won two PromaxBDA UK awards for their Where's Ice King and Weetabix Weetabuddies television campaigns. On 21 July 2017, Cartoon Network fully rebranded using graphics from the Dimensional 1.0 branding package. In April 2019, Cartoon Network UK's website was hacked, with a Gumball video replaced with an Arabic meme video; this also happened in other countries including the US, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and the MENA region.
On 18 November 2020, WarnerMedia was granted a Czech broadcasting licence for Cartoon Network UK and Ireland, entitled Cartoon Network Eire, with the reason being to ensure continued legal carriage of Cartoon Network UK in the Republic of Ireland and Malta in accordance with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive and single market law following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. Like the UK, the Czech Republic has minimal broadcasting regulations and was chosen for EU licensing purposes as WarnerMedia's HBO had substantial operations located in the country. Editorially, the channel is still managed from Cartoon Network's offices at WarnerMedia's EMEA headquarters in London.