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 By the end of the 1980s, Ted
Turner's cable TV conglomerate had acquired the MGM film library (which
included the older catalog of Warner Bros. cartoons), and its cable channel
Turner Network Television had gained an audience with its film library.
In 1991, they purchased animation studio
Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library. The Cartoon
Network channel was created as an outlet for Turner's considerable library
of animation, and the initial programming on the channel consisted
exclusively of re-runs of classic Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, with many
Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons used as time fillers. Cartoon Network
(abbreviated CN, corporately known as The Cartoon Network, Inc.) is a cable
television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows
animated programming. The original American channel began broadcasting on
October 1, 1992 with the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit being its
first-ever aired program. Cartoon Network originally served as a 24-hour
outlet for classic animation properties from the Turner Broadcasting
libraries and is mainly youth-oriented, but shares channel space with a
late-night adult-oriented channel programming block called Adult Swim. Since
2003 however, Cartoon Network began airing a small amount of live-action
programming, mostly movies.
In October 2008, Cartoon Network began running a West Coast feed, with
programming airing three hours after it airs on the main feed.
Cartoon Books, Videos and Products
In June of 2004, Cartoon Network re-launched itself, with a new logo and
slogan, "This is Cartoon Network." The bumps now featured Cartoon Cartoons
characters interacting in a CGI city. Nearly all of Cartoon Network's
classic cartoon programming had been replaced by new programming, except for
Tom and Jerry, a longtime staple of the Turner networks.
Some of the current programs include:
Boomerang, Ticle U, Toonami, Batman and Superman.
Recently, Cartoon Network introduced a new
programming block for pre-schoolers called Tickle-U. Half of the content on
the block are imported British preschool programming (some of them revoiced),
while the other half are original made-for-cartoon-network material.
Tickle-U featured a CGI world and about three CGI characters that would,
greet viewers, play games, and introduce the next program. In recent months
the whole Tickle-U concept was taken off the air.
Most of the
programs that were a part of the Tickle-U block are now part of Cartoon
Network's weekday morning line-up, with the addition of A Pup Named
Scooby Doo and Krypto The Superdog.
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