Cartoon Network is a Latin American pay television channel distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery for the Latin American audience and the Caribbean. It is the Latin American version of the original Cartoon Network television channel in the United States. It is divided into two feeds: two are in Spanish (Mexico/Pan-Latin America and Caribbean), and the other is in Portuguese for Brazil. The feeds have different schedules.
It primarily airs cartoons and animated programming, marketed towards children and adolescents. Operated in Argentina by Warner Bros. Discovery Americas, it began broadcasting on April 30, 1993.
Contents
History
In March 1993, Turner Broadcasting announced the start of broadcasts to Latin America, in conjunction with its plan to launch in Europe. Cartoon Network began broadcasting in Latin America on April 30, 1993. Although much is not known about its first broadcast in the region, it was, during its first years, similar to its U.S. counterpart, whose programming focused solely on the classic cartoons of the Turner Entertainment film library, made up of studios Hanna-Barbera, MGM, Warner Bros., and Fleischer Studios. Its programming and branding used at that time were the same as the U.S. feed, with the difference that between 1993 and 1995, the Latin American feed was just a Spanish-language feed from the United States, which was broadcast exclusively to the region. It was not until 1996 that this feed became completely independent of the US feed, and thus began to have its own programming with its own schedules, as well as new worldwide acquisitions for the channel.
In 1996, it began broadcasting its first original series, beginning with Space Ghost Coast to Coast, an original reinvention of Hanna-Barbera's superhero, which gained the popularity of adult audiences. In addition, new original channel series were incorporated at that time, known as Cartoon Cartoons: Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls and Ed, Edd n Eddy, which became the channel's flagship series.
The first edition of Copa Toon (initially named Copa Toon América) was held in July 1999, coinciding with that year's Copa América. It consisted in a fictional competition with eight theams with characters from the channel, represented daily by two 30-minute series, as well as marathons lasting between two and seven hours in the last three days. The event had the participation of sports journalists Víctor Hugo Morales (Latin American feed) and Toño de Valdés (Mexican feed), who narrated the highlights of each episode. The soccer special featured the cast of Space Ghost, whose theme was to interview several personalities from the world of sports and soccer, in addition to presenting a fictional tournament between the teams of the channel's series.
In 2001, it launched its new sister channel Boomerang, at that time, a new channel that would be dedicated solely to broadcast of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons that no longer aired in the programming of the main channel due to the arrival of new series. This channel had already been launched in 2000 in the United States, and until then, it was also a block broadcast in the main channel. The channel observed its tenth anniversary with Del yunque a la Sustancia X (From Anvil to Chemical X), airing on April 30, 2003.
Programming
The channel primarily airs shows and animated series, both original to Cartoon Network and others which have been acquired from outside networks.
10 of the 15 most popular shows among children aged 6-to-10 years old were broadcast by Cartoon Network Latin America, including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo and I Am Weasel. Older franchises like Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes were also broadcast, as well as popular global anime franchises like Pokémon and newest original series such as the Ben 10 franchise, Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Steven Universe and The Powerpuff Girls reboot. Cartoon Network Latin America has also aired original productions and live-action series such as La CQ and Use Sua Voz. the channel's first original Mexican live-action series which premiered in 2012. In 2014, the channel acquired Digimon Fusion and Power Rangers Megaforce in a partnership with Saban Brands, and both series premiered on the channel in May 2014.
Current programming
Original programming from Cartoon Network Studios
Original programming from Warner Bros. Animation
Original programming from Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
The Amazing World of Gumball (September 4, 2011)
The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe
Acquired programming
Local shows
These shows were produced in the countries covered by Cartoon Network Latin America.
Cartoonito shows
Services
Since 2007, the channel has offered different services.
CartoonNetworkLA.com
Cartoon Network Latin America started offering a website in October 1998, offering games, schedules, information on its shows and activities such as printable coloring pages.
Cartoon Network Mobile
Cartoon Network Mobile is a paid service for mobile phones, offering videos, wallpapers, games, screensavers, speech tones, ringtones and among other products.
Mensualidad Cartoon
Mensualidad Cartoon was an Argentine exclusive. It launched in August 2006 and was accessible through pre-paid collectible cards sold in retail outlets, featuring full episodes, online games and downloadable games. There was also the chance of launching it in.
Feed structure
All two feeds are generated at the central headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and also broadcast both programming and continuity in English through SAP. Despite being under this umbrella, the Brazilian feed is treated by the company as an independent channel.
Feed 1: Panregional Feed: generated in Buenos Aires, Bogota and Mexico City, encompasses Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, Central America and Caribbean
Feed 2: Brazil: generated in São Paulo (independent)
Programming blocks
JA JA JA/HA HA HA: A block that airs several comedy shows, including The Amazing World of Gumball, Apple & Onion, Craig of the Creek, Teen Titans Go! and We Bare Bears.
Cine Cartoon: A block that airs full-length movies, both animated and live-action. It airs on weekends, with new movies premiering every Friday.
Hora Cartoonito/Cartoonito Hour: A one-hour block that airs preschool shows from its newly launched sister channel Cartoonito like Masha and the Bear, Little Ellen, Lucas the Spider and Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
Toonami
On December 2, 2002, Cartoon Network premiered Toonami, replacing a similarly themed block, Talisman. Toonami aired shows that were already on the lineup, these being Gundam Wing and Pokémon, and served as the home of Inuyasha and Dragon Ball GT. Over the years, Toonami added shows such as Saint Seiya, and Yu Yu Hakusho, as well as the revamped version of Cyborg 009 and Captain Tsubasa. However, the block had to move to the late-night slots on CN Latin America, due to protests of violent scenes on the block. CN moved the block in November 2004.
In 2005, Toonami had short-lived weekend schedules, which were later replaced by Adult Swim in Latin America.
In March 2006, Toonami revamped its lineup to include more adult-oriented series, such as Love Hina, taking advantage of the schedule and the refusal of anime on Adult Swim, as well as to compete against anime channel Animax for new anime series. In June 2006, Toonami premiered anime movies in two monthly variations: Dragon Ball Theatricals (which had 17 different Dragon Ball movies), and Toonami Movies (general animated action movies).
In 2007, Cartoon Network retired Toonami. The movies were no longer aired (with the exception of the Dragon Ball movies). After its cancellation in Latin America on April 2, 2007, the block's programming gradually vanished. In January 2010, the block Animaction was created, showing on Wednesday evenings. This block broadcast both action programming and anime programming before it was removed in April 2011.
On August 18, 2020, Cartoon Network announced that the Toonami programming block was being revived in partnership with Crunchyroll. It was announced that Dragon Ball Super and Mob Psycho 100 would start airing in the one hour weeknight block. The new incarnation debuted on August 31. The block was removed on August 30, 2022.