Cartoon Network Portugal, commonly abbreviated as CN, was a British-managed Portuguese digital cable and satellite television channel launched on 3 December 2013 and was owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA under its international division.
Cartoon Network (both before and after merging) was the most-watched kids and teens' channel in Portugal, surpassing Disney Channel since 2022.[3]
On 25 September 2024, Cartoon Network Portugal merged with the French, Dutch, German and Scandinavian feeds.
History
The Pan-European feed received in Portugal, Angola and Mozambique was transmitted for a long time (from 17 September 1993 to 3 December 2013), this feed is now CN Africa.
The Portuguese-language version of the channel started to broadcast their feed to Angola and Mozambique on 1 October 2013,[4] coincidentally a few months after Cartoon Network 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).[5] at 20:00, broadcasting in 16:9. The Pan-European English feed was removed from the operator NOS, along with other foreign language international channels on 1 February 2010, and the Portuguese-language Panda Biggs was included in its place.[6]
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 TCM, focusing on classic movies and professional wrestling, and in its final years, with TCM Europe. 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 Portuguese version of the channel launched, TCM and Boomerang Africa ceased broadcasts 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, which happened on 30 May 2014. On 31 March 2017, it changed its design to a version based on the American 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. In 2022 the channel arrived on MEO schedule, only available on IPTV and Satellite. Boomerang was later replaced by Cartoonito on 23 March 2023 and later 11 September 2024, it was replaced by Cartoonito WE, merged with the Nordic countries.
The channel begun broadcasting in HD in 2022 on MEO and NOS.
On 16 September 2024 (after it had been announced in July 2024 by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA), Cartoon Network Portugal begun following the same schedule as Cartoon Network in the Nordics, France, Germany and the Netherlands. On 25 September the unification took a step further as the Portuguese feed was merged with the feeds mentioned above. From now on, these individual feeds have been phased out and the only difference between the broadcast in each country is an exclusive sub feed for local ad breaks.[7][8]
Programming
Current programming
Specials
Former programming
Controversies
Properly throughout September 2024, Cartoon Network Portugal was in the channel's censorship and controversies, when it moved to Western Europe.
Tom and Jerry Shorts
Between May and October 2014, the channel censored 103 Tom and Jerry shorts. The censorship was motivated by the channel's decision not to acquire the Portuguese-dubbed version from PSB (which dubbed the golden age of American animation onto VHS), which is notable for containing xenophobic and racist caricatures and actions, as well as violence involving weapons, household objects and torture. With this in mind, and to avoid controversy and problems with the media, Cartoon Network only aired the silent episodes (although it censored some of them) and only subtitled the graphics. Another censorship occurred during the Gene Deitch period (1960 - 1962), in which all episodes were censored.
Scooby-Doo
On 29 October 2021, Cartoon Network Portugal rebroadcast as a Halloween special, the first live-action Scooby-Doo film, which already had a Portuguese dub produced by Matinha, but for the same reasons, it was broadcast on original subtitled version.
Application in MEO
In June 2013 (before the launch of the Portuguese version of the channel), MEO, owned by Portugal Telecom (now Altice Portugal) launched an app on MEO Kids, providing content from the channel in Portuguese. Among the available content are the series Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force, dubbed in Portuguese, and three games (two from Ben 10 and one from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy).
Doraemon
In 2015 and 2016, the channel re-aired the two anime series "Doraemon (2005)" and "Doraemon (1979)" and the film "Doraemon: Nobita and the New Steel Troops—Winged Angels", with several scenes from both the anime and the film having been cut or censored.
It then lost exclusivity in 2018, moved only to the Boomerang/Cartoonito Portugal channel and stopped broadcasting in May 2023. Then between 2023 and 2024, Cartoon Network Portugal re-aired the 2005 anime series.
Entra na onda de diversão Cartoon Network
Between June and August 2024, Cartoon Network Portugal aired the 2024 summer ident: Entra na onda de diversão Cartoon Network [Get on the Cartoon Network fun bandwagon].
Its ident on the Portuguese children's channel had been adapted to show the characters in the series.
Restart
From 1 April 2017 to 25 September 2024, the Cartoon Network Portugal channel aired the quick restart in the "Dimensional" era graphic that appeared the loop of this image in each showing, similar to the American channel.
Since 26 September 2024, with the move to Western Europe, the channel has used the 2016 functional restart in the Check It 4.0 graphic era
See also
- Cartoon Network (Western Europe)
- Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA
References
- Unitel T+ - TV www.uniteltmais.cv, retrieved 2025-01-17^
- Company Information Turner Broadcasting System Europe, retrieved 5 July 2011^
- Audiências TV em março: RTP cresce à boleia da seleção mas é a SIC que fica com a taça 3 April 2023, retrieved 3 April 2023^
- TMS: Turner to launch Cartoon Network in Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique retrieved 16 April 2014^
- Cartoon Network | Residencial retrieved 29 November 2013^
- NOS: Panda Biggs e FOX no Clássico^
- Cartoon Network upravil grafiku, schéma a odbavovací signál [Cartoon Network modified the graphics, scheme, and check-in signal] MediaGuru.cz, retrieved 2024-09-25^
- Cartoon Network fusiona varias de sus señales en Europa TVLaint, 2024-09-17, retrieved 2024-09-30^