K2 is an Italian

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

television channel owned by

Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The subsidiary is responsible for managing the collection of their cable and satellite networks around the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. History WarnerMedia ...

, a division of

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...

for children between 4 and 14 years of age. Its

registered office A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity ...

is in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It launched on 1 October 2004 as a syndication managed by the Italian subsidiary of Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Italy S.r.l.

History

K2 was launched on 1 October 2004 as an analogue-based block from 5pm to 7pm, which was syndicated in other Italian regional television stations, replacing Fox Kids in the process during its rebrand into Jetix. In 2009, it was launched as its own digital terrestrial television channel. Due to Disney's decision to rebrand the Jetix Europe operation under the Disney XD brand umbrella, the Italian subsidiary of Jetix Europe, Jetix Italy S.r.l., bought the Italian Jetix network, renamed itself as

Switchover Media Switchover Media (SOM) was an Italian broadcaster of television channels. The company first operated as a subsidiary of Netherlands-based broadcaster Jetix Europe to being purchased out by its management and rebranding to Switchover Media in June ...

, agreed to let the Jetix Italy channel rebrand itself to Disney XD Italy, and purchased K-2 and

GXT GXT was an Italian subscription-based comedy/entertainment television channel. History Jetix Europe launched GXT as a male teen channel in May 2005 on Mondo Sky. On June 1, 2008, a 1-hour-timeshift of GXT was launched on Sky Italia. Due to Dis ...

from

Jetix Europe Jetix Europe N.V. (formerly known as Fox Kids Europe N.V.) was a European television broadcasting company that owned children's television channels and programming blocks across the Europe and Middle East, such as Jetix and Jetix Play. History F ...

in June 2009. In this period 2 channels popped up, K2 Extra and K2 Plus, however, they were just copies of the original channel and were removed in December 2012. With the acquisition of Switchover Media in January 2013 by

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...

, K2 began to be managed by

Discovery EMEA Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The subsidiary is responsible for managing the collection of their cable and satellite networks around the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. History WarnerMedia E ...

. On May 17, 2021, AT&T and

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual television, factual and lifestyle television bra ...

reached a definitive

Reverse Morris Trust A Reverse Morris Trust in United States law is a transaction that combines a divisive reorganization ( spin-off) with an acquisitive reorganization ( statutory merger) to allow a tax-free transfer (in the guise of a merger) of a subsidiary. It may ...

agreement, in which WarnerMedia would

spin out Spinout or Spin Out may refer to: *Corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, a type of corporate action where a company turns a portion of itself into a separate business *Spinout (driving), failure when braking Entertainment * ''Spinout (fil ...

from AT&T as an independent company that in turn will acquire Discovery's assets. The $43-billion cash/securities/stock transaction, which will include the retention of certain existing WarnerMedia debt, is expected to be finalized by April 8, 2022. Upon completion, K2 and all other assets of Discovery would be combined with the WarnerMedia assets (such as

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

and more). AT&T shareholders will own 71% of the company's stock and Discovery shareholders will own the remaining 29% share; Discovery President/CEO

David Zaslav David Zaslav (born January 15, 1960) is an American media executive who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Warner Bros. Discovery. Zaslav spearheaded the transaction between AT&T and Discovery to combine with Warner ...

will be appointed to head the new company, replacing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. In April 2022, the merger between

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and Discovery, Inc. was completed, forming

, and K2 was transferred to

as part of it.

Programs

The channel is programmed for 4-14-year-olds, airing mostly children shows like

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

Oggy and the Cockroaches ''Oggy and the Cockroaches'' (french: Oggy et les Cafards) is a French comedy-adventure animated television series produced by Gaumont Multimedia (first two seasons) and Xilam Animation (third season onwards), and created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud, ...

Zig & Sharko ''Zig & Sharko'' ( French: ''Zig et Sharko'') is a French animated slapstick comedy television series created and directed by Olivier Jean-Marie and produced by Xilam Animation. The series' premise focuses on the lives of Zig, a brown hyena, an ...

and

Total Dramarama ''Total DramaRama'' (originally titled ''Total Drama Daycare'') is an animated comedy children's television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch that premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on September 1, 2018, and on ...

. During 10:00pm and 1:00am along with its sister channel

Frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitive ...

it airs a block called Family Club, with educational shows taken from Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA's other channels like

How It's Made ''How It's Made'' (''Comment c'est fait'' in French) is a Canadian documentary television series that premiered on January 6, 2001, on the Discovery Channel in Canada and the Science Channel in the United States. The program is produced in t ...

and

How Do They Do It? ''How Do They Do It?'' is a television series produced by Wag TV for Discovery Channel. Each programme explores how 2 or 3 ordinary objects are made and used. The show's slogan is "Behind the ordinary is the extraordinary." The series is broa ...

. During the night instead, it airs recent shows taken off from the daily schedule, such as The Daltons and Mr. Magoo. On the weekends it airs

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

marathons and Cartoon Network shows like

Total Drama Island ''Total Drama Island'' (sometimes shortened to ''TDI'') is the first season of ''Total Drama'', a Canadian animated comedy television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon on July 8, 2007 ...

. Whenever movies are aired (mostly on Mondays), they're repeated on Saturday at 1.00pm and Sunday at 9.00am.

Movies

From 2011 to 2013, the channel broadcast movies from

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

and

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

Advertising

The channel's current advertising is managed by PRS Media Group.

References

External links

* (in Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:K2 (Tv Network) Children's television networks Television channels in Italy Television syndication distributors Italian-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 2003 Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA