| Cartoon Network | |
| Country: | United Kingdom France Germany |
| Headquarters: | Neuilly-sur-Seine, France London, United Kingdom Munich, Germany |
| Picture Format: | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Owner: | Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA |
| Launch Date: | |
Cartoon Network is a pan-European children's pay television channel owned by the EMEA sub-division of the international division of Warner Bros. Discovery. A localization of the namesake American channel, it airs primarily in Western Europe along with other countries in the EMEA region.
Cartoon Network Europe first launched on 17 September 1993 as part of a timesharing service with TNT Classic Movies.[1] Although it was legally licensed in the UK, as it transmitted from London, the French and Belgian authorities objected to the American programming available in the French language.[2] [3] [4] In June 1998, an autonomic Cartoon Network was launched for Southern Europe (France, Spain, and Italy). The Italian channel became independent a few months later, and on 23 August 1999, the French and Spanish channels were split.
Throughout September 2024, Cartoon Network's European channels (save for the UK, Ireland, and Italy) were gradually remerged into pan-regional feeds. In Central and Eastern Europe, the Polish and Southeastern European feeds were brought under Cartoon Network CEE on 18 September, while a new feed for Western Europe launched one week later on 25 September, merging the Dutch, French, German, Scandinavian, and Portuguese feeds.[5] [6]
See main article: Cartoon Network (French TV channel).
In 1999, all shows began to be shown in French.[7] Cartoon Network broadcast mainly Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. cartoons in the early 2000s.[8] In 2006, the channel changed its programming to aim a more modern audience by removing old shows. These shows were replaced with movies and some live-action series.
Starting in 2010, less Hanna-Barbera productions have been broadcast. Most of these were moved to sister network Boomerang. An original video game titled Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL was released on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo 3DS.[9] In December 2012, Cartoon Network began to air the first seasons of Wakfu: The Animated Series.[10] In early 2014, Turner announced the new series Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe and Clarence.[11]
Since 2014, Cartoon Network France has been available in Sub-Saharan Africa through StarTimes.[12] [13] [14] On 25 July 2016, Cartoon Network France fully rebranded using graphics from the Check It 4.0 branding package.[15] On 4 September 2017, Cartoon Network France fully rebranded using graphics from the Dimensional branding package.[16]
Cartoon Network launched in Germany on 3 September 2005 as a Saturday morning programming block on kabel eins. In June 2006, a German version of Boomerang was launched; this was followed by the simultaneous launch of Cartoon Network Germany as a 24-hour channel and TCM Germany on 5 December 2006.[17] In December 2013 kabel eins cancelled the programming block.[18] [19] On 1 September 2016, Cartoon Network Germany re-branded using graphics from the Check It 4.0 branding package.[20]
On 25 September 2024, Cartoon Network Germany merged with the French, Dutch, Portuguese and Scandinavian feeds.[21]
The official Dutch feed would launch four years later on 12 July 1997.[22] It primarily aired animated programming in the Netherlands and Belgium.[23] This version was available in the Dutch and English languages and broadcast for 18 hours a day, from 6AM until midnight on Channel 25 on Digitenne.[24]
The Dutch feed closed down on 1 August 2001, and was replaced by the pan-European feed with a Dutch audio track, yet some shows still aired in English with subtitles and all continuity was in English.[25] It aired 16 hours a day, from 6AM until 10PM. The channel's airtime was shortened on 1 April 2003, now broadcasting from 6AM until 9PM. A new logo was introduced on 21 April 2006. On 25 April 2008, UPC Nederland added an English audiotrack to the channel; Ziggo would do the same in 2010.
On 17 November 2010, the Dutch feed relaunched, broadcasting 24 hours a day and featuring the 2010 on-air style. All programs and ads air in Dutch.[26]
On 18 July 2018, Cartoon Network launched in HD on KPN,[27] and Ziggo added HD signal on 3 December.[28]
On 25 September 2024, Cartoon Network Netherlands merged with the German, French, Portuguese and Scandinavian feeds.[29]
Some programs on the pan-European feed were dubbed into Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, dubbed locally by companies such as SDI Media Denmark and Dubberman Denmark, for the Danish soundtrack. On December 16, 1996, Cartoon Network became a 24/7 channel, as did TNT. However, a version of the channel called TNT & Cartoon Network continued to appear on some providers in Europe. In 2000, a regional Scandinavian version of Cartoon Network was created, broadcasting in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.
In mid-May 2006, the channel rebranded to the City era, with the logo, promos, bumpers and idents altered as well. The Boomerang block was removed but most of its program content still continued to be offered on the channel. In mid-May 2009, the branding was changed to the Arrow era as seen on other CN feeds in the EMEA region at the time. In early 2011, the channel rebranded to the Check It 1.0 era, with a new logo, bumpers and idents influenced by the Checkerboard era.
From 1 October 2012 onwards, there are local Swedish commercials on the Swedish subfeed's ad breaks as opposed to the pan-Nordic commercials aired in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.[30] Since 1 November 2013, Cartoon Network has been broadcasting in widescreen. Although the channel airs 24/7, some distributors only broadcast the channel between 6:00am and 9:00pm, with Turner Classic Movies filling the remainder of the schedule. Distributors that only broadcast the partial version include Viasat, Telia Digital-tv and many smaller analogue cable systems. The channel is not yet available in Finnish in Finland, but some of the programs on the channel are available in Finnish on local Finnish channels such as MTV3, C More Juniori, Sub and Nelonen.
In November 2014, the channel rebranded to Check It 3.0, following various other EMEA feeds doing so. On April 2, 2016 Cartoon Network Nordic rebranded to the Check It 4.0 graphics package, marking the first major stage towards the rebrand rollout across the EMEA region.[31] On May 1, 2017, the channel started broadcasting in Finland.[32]
At the request of the Czech regulator, between, from 17 April 2023, the channel starts broadcasting in Latvia, replacing the Southeastern European version, but completely on 1 May 2023.[33] On 25 September 2024, Cartoon Network Scandinavia merged with the German, Dutch, Portuguese and French feeds.
See main article: Cartoon Network (Portuguese TV channel).
The Portuguese-language version of the channel started to broadcast their feed to Angola and Mozambique on 1 October 2013,[34] coincidentally a few months after Cartoon Network in Spain closed.
On 3 December 2013, the Portuguese channel was officially launched in Portugal on all cable operators, switching from the Pan-European version (in English) [35] at 20:00, broadcasting in . The Pan-European English feed was removed from the operator NOS service, along with other foreign language international channels on 1 February 2010, and the Portuguese-language Panda Biggs was included in its place.
When the Pan-European feed was still being broadcast, the daily broadcast was 15 hours (from 05:00 to 20:00) in Portugal. During that time, the channel shared time with TNT, focusing on classic movies and professional wrestling, and in its final years, with TCM. Some cable TV operators preferred dividing the two channels with their own channel (some with a description of their opening and closing times). Shortly after the release of Portugal's version of the channel, TCM and Boomerang stopped being aired in Portugal.
Around February 2014, the channel started airing advertisements, but in March 2014, they stopped airing them, returning in the middle of the month.
Cartoon Network Portugal was also the first European CN feed to adopt the CHECK it 3.0 branding.
From 30 May 2014 to 30 March 2017, Cartoon Network used white background graphics. On 31 March 2017, it changed its design to a version based on the US feed's Dimensional branding.
On 26 April 2018, Boomerang Portugal was launched on NOWO and Vodafone. This version had already been launched in Angola and Mozambique on 21 April 2015 and the European channel (English-language) stopped being broadcast when Cartoon Network was launched in Portuguese. Boomerang was later replaced by Cartoonito on March 23, 2023.
The channel begun broadcasting in HD in 2022. On September 25, 2024, Cartoon Network Portugal merged with the French, Dutch, German and Scandinavian feeds.[36]
On 4 March 1994, (despite Turner announcing before the end of 1993) the sixth language of the channel was added: Spanish. Later, the channel was also added to Spanish cable networks.[37]
In 1997, Canal Satélite Digital signed an agreement with Time Warner in which, apart from obtaining rights from the production company, it also benefited from the entry of Cartoon Network and TNT in its offer. The channel was broadcast in the majority of pay TV companies, in some including the Cartoon Network +1 channel, with the same programming, but one hour later. In addition, a magazine called Cartoon Network Magazine was published, but it did not manage the channel, since the license belonged to another owner.
Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced on 14 June 2013 that Cartoon Network and Cartoonito would close in Spain on 30 June 2013, due to dwindling TV ratings and the pay TV crisis Spain had at that time as a consequence of the 2008 financial crisis.[38]
On 20 June, it was published on the blog of the Cartoon Network website the cessation of its television broadcasts, but noting that the website would remain active,[39] with its content becoming available on demand (VOD) services for tablets, smartphones or televisions connected to the Internet in which viewers could watch the series and content of the channel. This would eventually lead to the creation of Time Warner's own online VOD service in Spain, HBO España in 2016 (which would become HBO Max in 2021).
It was also explained that these contents would also be available on the channel's website, and that Turner would increase its presence on Boing, the children's channel which TBS España jointly owns with Mediaset España.[40]
Shortly before midnight on 1 July 2013, the channel ceased broadcasting in Spain after 19 years, with the last programme to be aired being an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The channel then displayed a filler, and after a few minutes, each operator that distributed the signal replaced it with an information screen informing customers that the channel stopped broadcasting in Spain. However, the channel's site still remains active.
