The Cartoon Network, Inc. (TCN) is an American multinational entertainment company operating as a unit of
Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded by
Ted Turner and based out of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Georgia, its main properties include
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
,
Boomerang,
Discovery Family, and programming blocks
Cartoonito,
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
and
Toonami
Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...
. It is a division of
Warner Bros. Discovery Global Linear Networks.
History
On March 25, 1986,
Turner Broadcasting System acquired
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
/
United Artists. On October 18, Turner forcibly sold back MGM. However, Turner kept much of the film and television library made before May 1986 (including some of the UA library) and formed
Turner Entertainment Co. On October 8, 1988, its cable channel
Turner Network Television was launched and gained an audience with its extensive film library. In 1991, Turner also purchased the library of animation studio
Hanna-Barbera.
Ted Turner selected
Betty Cohen (then-Senior Vice President of
TNT) to devise a network to house these programs.
On February 18, 1992, Turner Broadcasting announced its plans to launch Cartoon Network as an outlet for an animation library.
On March 12, 1992, The Cartoon Network, Inc. was founded one month after Turner's plan was announced.
On October 1, 1992, its
namesake TV channel officially launched as the first 24-hour single-genre
cable channel with animation as its main theme.
In 1994, Hanna-Barbera's new division
Cartoon Network Studios was founded and started production on ''
What a Cartoon!''. This show debuted in 1995, offering original animated shorts, most of which became their own programs and significantly influenced the tone of the channel. In 1996, Cartoon Network aired two preschool programs: ''
Big Bag'', a live-action/puppet television program with animated short series produced by
Children's Television Workshop, and ''
Small World'', which featured animated series aimed at preschoolers imported from foreign countries. Turner Broadcasting System merged with
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City.
It was established as Time Warne ...
, which led to Warner Bros. reacquiring the animated shorts they had sold to
Associated Artists Productions. The network could then continue more original productions.
The company also owns the assets of
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
, a late-night programming block of Cartoon Network commonly considered to be a separate channel in itself. It launched on September 2, 2001 and remains a core property for the company.
Acquisition by AT&T
On October 22, 2016,
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
and Time Warner disclosed an offer to merge for $108.7 billion, including assumed debt held by the latter company. The merger would bring Time Warner's various media properties, including The Cartoon Network, Inc., under the same corporate umbrella as AT&T's telecommunications holdings, including satellite provider
DirecTV
DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
and
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
/broadband provider
AT&T U-verse. Time Warner shareholders approved the merger on February 15, 2017. On November 20, 2017, the
U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Time Warner in an attempt to block the merger, citing
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
concerns surrounding the transaction. U.S. clearance of the proposed merger—which had already received approval from
European,
Mexican,
Chilean and
Brazilian regulatory authorities—was affirmed by court ruling on June 12, 2018, after
District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge
Richard J. Leon ruled in favor of AT&T, and dismissed antitrust claims asserted in the DOJ's lawsuit. The merger closed two days later on June 14, 2018, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, which renamed the unit
WarnerMedia
Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...
. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of AT&T on February 26, 2019.
WarnerMedia-Discovery merger
On May 17, 2021, AT&T and
Discovery, Inc. reached a definitive
Reverse Morris Trust agreement, in which AT&T would
spin out WarnerMedia into an independent company (unwinding the prior 2018 acquisition of the former Time Warner) that would concurrently acquire Discovery's assets, for $43 billion in cash, securities and stock plus WarnerMedia's retention of certain debt. Under the transaction, which was expected to be finalized by the second quarter of 2022, The Cartoon Network, Inc. and all other assets of WarnerMedia would be combined with the assets of Discovery, Inc. AT&T shareholders would own 71% of the company's stock and Discovery shareholders would own the remaining 29% share, with each shareholder group appointing representative
board members;
David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery, would head the new company, replacing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.
On June 1, 2021, it was announced that the merged company would be known as
Warner Bros. Discovery; Zaslav explained that it would reflect "the combination of Warner Bros.' fabled hundred-year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration." The merger was officially completed on April 8, 2022, with The Cartoon Network, Inc. assuming oversight
Discovery Family and its
Spanish version.
Global expansion
Cartoon Network Europe, a pan-European English feed, was launched in 1993. Spanish,
Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, and
Norwegian audio tracks were added in 1994. The network's
Dutch feed was launched in 1997. Another feed launched in 1998, which aired in France, Italy and Spain. The pan-European feed kept airing in the other parts of Europe. The network's
Italian feed became independent a few months later after the launch of the French channel, while the
Spanish and
French feeds were split in 1999. A
Polish feed launched a year earlier, in 1998.
On September 17, 1993, some Russian cities began receiving Cartoon Network Europe through broadcasts from the Astra satellite. The channel broadcast in English. Since July 1, 1996, the channel has been available from the Panamsat 4 satellite in the territories of Southern Russia and Ukraine, in the Asian republics of the former USSR.
[Советы для начинающих](_blank)
// Июль 1996 In 1997, the channel's new distributor,
Chello Zone, took over in the CIS. In the same year, the channel was partially dubbed into Russian.
In 1998, the channel began broadcasting on the territories of Belarus and Ukraine, the Baltic states and the North-West of Russia from the Astra 1G satellite. Broadcasting was 16 hours a day, from 8:00 to 0:00 MSK.,
[Детский мир](_blank)
// Август 1998г at night, the channel carried
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
. In November 1999, the channel became available on the platform
NTV Plus and other cable networks, broadcasting from the Sirius 2 satellite.
In 1999, the network's
British feed officially split off from the pan-European version. This followed after the shared transponder analogue feed on
Astra 1C became scrambled with
VideoCrypt and the short-lived British version of
TNT was launched.
A
Nordic feed was launched in 2000, broadcasting in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English. This also became available in Iceland and Finland. The Dutch Cartoon Network closed down in 2001. It was replaced with the pan-European feed in 2001. A Dutch audio track was simultaneously added. Greek subtitles became available the same year. The Polish feed branched into separate ones for Romania and Hungary in 2002. A
German feed was launched in 2006. A
Turkish feed was added in 2008.
In April 2005, Cartoon Network Europe was completely dubbed into Russian.
On October 1, 2008, a separate feed of Cartoon Network was created for Hungary and Romania, while the two additional audio tracks that were previously added to
Cartoon Network Poland in 2002. Czech Republic and Slovakia both used to receive this channel feed in an English-language muted audio track..
On October 1, 2009, the channel was launched –
Cartoon Network Russia, broadcasting in the countries of CIS and South-Eastern Europe.
The network's
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
feed launched in 2010, which is free-to-air on satellite and exist alongside the pan-European feed in pay-TV which would later split into another MENA feed on 1 July 2016. This is the only
EMEA-marketed feed not broadcast in English. On November 17, 2010, the Dutch feed relaunched and started broadcasting 24 hours a day and with a new logo. All programs and ads air in Dutch. The Spanish feed shut down in 2013, together with the Spanish
Cartoonito. This market would focus completely on the free-to-air channel
Boing. The Portuguese-speaking channel was launched in October 2013 in Angola and Mozambique. It launched in Portugal later in December.
, the ex pan-European feed still airs in the Greek part of Cyprus; it is also one of the four feeds available in the Middle East and Africa (the other ones being the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
French, and
Portuguese feeds). This pan-European feed broadcasts in English, while Greek subtitles are available. All other European countries had their own local or regional feed.
On September 1, 2017, the Central and Eastern European channel feed added a Czech-language audio track for its audience in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, replacing the English-language muted audio track.
Units
Production studios
*
Cartoon Network Productions
*
CN LA Original Productions
*
Williams Street
*
Cartoon Network Studios
*
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
U.S. television channels
*
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
**
Cartoonito (former block)
**
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
(block)
***
Toonami
Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...
(block)
***
Checkered Past (block)
*
Boomerang
*
Discovery Family (60% with
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
)
*
Discovery Familia
International channels
Cartoon Network
Adult Swim
Boomerang
Cartoonito
Toonami
Other channels
Note: In Italy and the UK, the network's "+1"
timeshift channels are often temporarily rebranded and carry only one franchise for around a month, such as ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'', ''
Tom and Jerry'', and ''
Ben 10''.
See also
*
Discovery Kids
*
Pogo
*
Boing
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartoon Network, Inc., The
Cartoon Network
Adult Swim
Boomerang (TV network)
Cartoonito
Cartoon Network-related lists
Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries
Mass media companies established in 1992
Cable network groups in the United States
Television broadcasting companies of the United States
Companies based in Atlanta
Companies based in New York City
Companies based in Burbank, California
American companies established in 1992
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Mass media companies of the United States