Cartoon Network (Western Europe) — BrandWiki

Cartoon Network (Western Europe)

Overview

Cartoon Network

country	France Germany United Kingdom
area	Angola Austria Belgium Cape Verde‡R1R‡ France Germany Haiti Lebanon Liechtenstein Luxembourg Madagascar Mauritius Monaco Morocco Mozambique Netherlands Nordic countries Overseas France Portugal South Tyrol Sub-Saharan Africa Switzerland
headquarters	Munich, Germany Neuilly-sur-Seine, France London, United Kingdom
picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
owner	Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA
sister channels	Boomerang France Cartoonito France Cartoonito CEE Cartoonito WE Warner TV
launch date	September 17, 1993 (as Cartoon Network UK/Europe) September 25, 2024 (as Cartoon Network Western Europe)‡R2R‡

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. The channel started broadcasting on 25 September 2024, as a result of the merger between the French, German, Dutch, Portuguese and Scandinavian feeds. A localization of the namesake American channel, it airs primarily in Western Europe along with other countries in the EMEA region and French-speaking territories.

History

Cartoon Network Europe first launched on 17 September 1993. As part of a timesharing service with TNT Classic Movies.[3] 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.[4][5]

France

In 1999, all shows began to be shown in French.[11] Cartoon Network broadcast mainly Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. cartoons in the early 2000s.[12] 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.[13] In December 2012, Cartoon Network began to air the first seasons of Wakfu: The Animated Series.[14] In early 2014, Turner announced the new series Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe and Clarence.[15]

Since 2014, Cartoon Network France has been available in Sub-Saharan Africa through StarTimes.[16][17][18] On 25 July 2016, Cartoon Network France fully rebranded using graphics from the Check It 4.0 branding package.[19] On 4 September 2017, Cartoon Network France fully rebranded using graphics from the Dimensional branding package.[20]

On 25 September 2024, Cartoon Network France merged with German, Dutch, Portuguese and Scandinavian feeds.

Germany

Unlike the other Big Four countries in Western Europe, and even Spain, Germany did not receive a localized version of Cartoon Network during the 1990s. Instead, programming from Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios was licensed to the various free to air broadcasters in Germany, with later reruns happening on the German kids channel Junior during the 2000s, for shows such as Animaniacs and Cow and Chicken.

Kabel eins would launch a Cartoon Network themed Saturday morning programming block on 3 September 2005. In December 2013 Kabel eins cancelled the programming block,[21] but its programming continues to be available on German terrestrial television through channels like Super RTL and even Disney Channel Germany.

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

Netherlands and Flanders

The first incarnation of the Dutch feed launched on 12 July 1997.[26] The first company that was confirmed to carry the service was Castel; as of March 1997, negotiations with other companies began.[27] It primarily aired animated programming in the Netherlands and Belgium.[28] 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.[29]

Overnight in its first version, the channel relayed the British version, which according to the team, was cheaper. This included sign language programming, in British Sign Language, which received criticism from sign language associations. Cartoon Network justified that the post-10pm slot was "unfeasible" to feature a Dutch sign language interpreter.[30]

Nordic countries

Some programs on the pan-European feed were dubbed into Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, dubbed locally by companies such as SDI Media 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. On 1 January 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.[36] 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,

Portugal

The Portuguese-language version of the channel started to broadcast their feed to Angola and Mozambique on 1 October 2013,[40] 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) [41] at 20:00, broadcasting in 16:9. 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).