Slogan Check It. | ||
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Launched September 17, 1993; 23 years ago (1993-09-17)
as Cartoon Network UK/Europe
August 1999; 17 years ago (August 1999)
demerged from Cartoon Network UK/Europe
July 1, 2016; 7 months ago (2016-07-01)
as Cartoon Network MENA and Cartoon Network Africa Owned by Turner Broadcasting System Europe (Time Warner) Picture format 16:9 (576i, SDTV) (Africa)
16:9 (1080i, HDTV) (MENA) Language English (Africa and MENA versions)
Arabic (MENA only)
Greek (Cyprus; subtitles only) Broadcast area Arab world, Africa and Cyprus | ||
Cartoon Network (also known as Cartoon Network Africa or Cartoon Network MENA when referring to the individual versions) is a formerly pan-European digital TV channel serving the Arab world, Africa and Cyprus, created by Turner Broadcasting System, a unit of Time Warner and dedicated to showing animated programming. Based on the original American version of the channel (which itself launched on October 1, 1992), it launched on September 17, 1993 and split from Cartoon Network UK/Europe in August 1999.
Contents
Cartoon Network used to broadcast in time-sharing with Turner Classic Movies. TCM would air classic movies from 9:00 PM CET to 6:00 AM CET, while Cartoon Network would run for the rest of the day.
On July 1, 2016, Cartoon Network MEA was split into two separate channels - an African feed in SD on DStv which only broadcasts in English, and a MENA feed in HD on beIN which also features an Arabic audio track. The feeds have differing schedules and programming, and differ in censorship rules as well.
History
The pan-European feed was launched on September 17, 1993 as Cartoon Network UK/Europe; the channel broadcast all over Europe in English. A Spanish-language audio track was launched on March 4, 1994, along with Swedish, Danish, French, Italian and Norwegian audio tracks.
The Dutch feed was launched on July 12, 1997. Another feed was launched in June 1998, which aired in France, Italy and Spain. The pan-European feed kept airing in the other parts of Europe. The Polish feed was launched on September 1, 1998.
The Italian feed became independent a few months after the launch of the Western Europe feed, while the Spanish and French feeds split on August 23, 1999.
On October 15, 1999, the British and Irish feed had officially split off from the pan-European version, which was when the shared transponder analog feed on Astra 1C became scrambled with VideoCrypt, and when the short-lived UK-and-Ireland-only version of TNT had been launched.
The Scandinavian feed was launched on January 1, 2000, broadcasting in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English. The feed is also available in Iceland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The Dutch Cartoon Network was closed down on July 31, 2001 and replaced with the pan-European feed on the following day; a Dutch audio track was also added on that day. The Polish feed added Romanian and Hungarian audio tracks on September 30, 2002. A Russian audio track was added on April 1, 2005 and Greek subtitles were added on June 20, 2005.
The German feed was launched on December 5, 2006, and the Turkish on January 28, 2008. The Romanian feed (also known as CN CEE) was launched in January 2008. On October 1, 2009, the Hungarian audio track of the Polish feed moved to the Hungarian feed. The Czech Republic and Slovakia receive Cartoon Network CEE in English.
The Bulgarian feed was launched on October 1, 2009 with Bulgarian and English audio tracks. The Russian audio track moved to this feed on the same day. Since January 1, 2014, the Russian and Southeastern European has been airing 24/7 in all countries it is offered in. Before that date, the 24/7 version was unavailable outside of Russia.
The African website was CartoonNetworkAfrica.com, which was launched on May 10, 2010.
Cartoon Network Arabic launched on October 10, 2010. It is the only feed in the EMEA region which is unavailable in English. The Spanish feed closed down on July 1, 2013 along with the Spanish Cartoonito. Viewers in Spain can still watch Cartoon Network shows on Boing, with a block exclusively consisting of Cartoon Network shows called ¡Findes! Cartoon Network also available on the channel. The Portuguese feed launched on October 1, 2013 in Angola and Mozambique. It was later launched in Portugal on December 3, 2013.
Nowadays, the formerly pan-European feed still airs in Africa. A separate feed in HD is one of three feeds available in the Arab world, as well as the sole feed in Cyprus, with MENA viewers also having access to Cartoon Network Arabic and Cartoon Network Hindi. The other European countries all have their own local feeds.
The channel switched to widescreen October 6, 2014; it also began using the Check It 3.0 look on the same day. The rebrand coincided with that of Cartoon Network Arabic and the German sub-feed of Cartoon Network.
In December 2015, Turner Broadcasting System entered into an exclusivity deal with beIN Media Group to supply all Turner-owned pay TV channels in the Arab world exclusively via the latter's beIN Network subscription service, including Cartoon Network Africa, Boomerang Africa and TCM Africa, starting from January 1, 2016. This consequently removed Cartoon Network and other Turner-owned channels from OSN's broadcast services, albeit subscribers to Etisalat and du's respective pay TV services in the UAE were virtually unaffected.
On July 1, 2016, Cartoon Network MEA and Boomerang EMEA were split into Cartoon Network MENA and Cartoon Network Africa, and Boomerang MENA and Boomerang Africa respectively, with the MENA versions of Cartoon Network and Boomerang broadcast in 1080i on beIN with an Arabic audio track available. Cartoon Network MENA and Boomerang MENA have different programming and schedules, and Cartoon Network MENA censors many programs, sometimes censoring scenes which are unedited on Cartoon Network Arabic. Boomerang MENA is also available in Greece and Cyprus with a Greek audio track instead of an Arabic track.
Since September 2016, Cartoon Network MENA has been available on PrimeTel's IPTV service, and is the only Cartoon Network channel available in Cyprus. The channel replaces Cartoon Network Africa (which had already ceased broadcasting on all TV operators in Greece as well as on the Cypriot TV operator Nova Cyprus in 2013), thus ending its role as a pan-feed. Other areas in Europe are served by separate feeds.
The English-language website in the Arab world is CartoonNetworkME.com, which was launched on July 1, 2016. CartoonNetworkMENA.com serves as a hub where users can choose between the English- or Arabic-language versions of the website.
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network Africa
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network Africa
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network Africa
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network MENA
Cartoon Network Africa
Many of the programs below were moved to either Boomerang or Boing Africa instead.
Boomerang
Boomerang is a television channel which formerly used to air classic cartoons. Two versions of the channel exist; one for the Arab World, as well as Greece and Cyprus, and another for Sub-Saharan Africa. It was launched on June 5, 2005.
On July 1, 2016, the channel was split into Boomerang Africa and Boomerang MENA; the latter version airs in 1080i with English and Arabic audio tracks on beIN, and is also available in Greece and Cyprus, albeit with a Greek audio track.
Cartoonito
Cartoonito is a preschool brand owned and distributed by Turner Broadcasting System Europe, which is offered as a dedicated television channel in the United Kingdom and Italy, but was also formerly available as a block on various EMEA Boomerang feeds in addition to Cartoon Network Arabic; the block was later phased out in 2014. The brand is aimed at young children under the age of 6 years.