On March 25, 1986, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists. On October 18, Turner forcibly sold back MGM. However, Turner kept much of the film and television library made before May 1986 (including some of the UA library) and formed Turner Entertainment Co.[2] On October 8, 1988, its cable channel Turner Network Television was launched and gained an audience with its extensive film library.[3] In 1991, Turner also purchased the library of animation studio Hanna-Barbera.[4][5]Ted Turner selected Betty Cohen (then-Senior Vice President of TNT) to devise a network to house these programs.[6] On February 18, 1992, Turner Broadcasting announced its plans to launch Cartoon Network as an outlet for an animation library.[7] On March 12, 1992, The Cartoon Network, Inc. was founded one month after Turner's plan was announced.[1] On October 1, 1992, its namesake TV channel officially launched as the first 24-hour single-genre cable channel with animation as its main theme.
In 1994, Hanna-Barbera's new division Cartoon Network Studios was founded and started production on What a Cartoon!. This show debuted in 1995, offering original animated shorts, most of which became their own programs and significantly influenced the tone of the channel. In 1996, Cartoon Network aired two preschool programs: Big Bag, a live-action/puppet television program with animated short series produced by Children's Television Workshop, and Small World, which featured animated series aimed at preschoolers imported from foreign countries. Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner,[8] which led to Warner Bros. reacquiring the animated shorts they had sold to Associated Artists Productions. The network could then continue more original productions.
The company also owns the assets of Adult Swim, a late-night programming block of Cartoon Network commonly considered to be a separate channel in itself. It launched on September 2, 2001 and remains a core property for the company.
Acquisition by AT&T
On October 22, 2016, AT&T disclosed an offer to acquire Time Warner for $108.7 billion, including assumed debt held by the latter company. The merger would bring Time Warner's various media properties, including The Cartoon Network, Inc., under the same corporate umbrella as AT&T's telecommunications holdings, including satellite provider DirecTV and IPTV/broadband provider AT&T U-verse.[9][10][11][12] Time Warner shareholders approved the merger on February 15, 2017.[13] On November 20, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Time Warner in an attempt to block the merger, citing antitrust concerns surrounding the transaction.[14][15][16] U.S. clearance of the proposed merger—which had already received approval from European, Mexican, Chilean and Brazilian regulatory authorities—was affirmed by court ruling on June 12, 2018, after District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in favor of AT&T, and dismissed antitrust claims asserted in the DOJ's lawsuit. The merger closed two days later on June 14, 2018, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, which renamed the unit WarnerMedia. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of AT&T on February 26, 2019.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
WarnerMedia-Discovery merger
On May 17, 2021, AT&T and Discovery, Inc. reached a definitive Reverse Morris Trust agreement, in which AT&T would spin out WarnerMedia into an independent company (unwinding the prior 2018 acquisition of the former Time Warner) that would concurrently acquire Discovery's assets, for $43 billion in cash, securities and stock plus WarnerMedia's retention of certain debt. Under the transaction, which was expected to be finalized by the second quarter of 2022, The Cartoon Network, Inc. and all other assets of WarnerMedia would be combined with the assets of Discovery, Inc. AT&T shareholders would own 71% of the company's stock and Discovery shareholders would own the remaining 29% share, with each shareholder group appointing representative board members; David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery, would head the new company, replacing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.[25][26][27][28]
On June 1, 2021, it was announced that the merged company would be known as Warner Bros. Discovery; Zaslav explained that it would reflect "the combination of Warner Bros.' fabled hundred-year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration."[29] The merger was officially completed on April 8, 2022, with The Cartoon Network, Inc. becoming a subsidiary of WBD.
Global expansion
Cartoon Network Europe, a pan-European English feed, was launched in 1993. Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, and Norwegian audio tracks were added in 1994. The network's Dutch feed was launched in 1997. Another feed launched in 1998, which aired in France, Italy and Spain. The pan-European feed kept airing in the other parts of Europe. The network's Italian feed became independent a few months later after the launch of the French channel,[citation needed] while the Spanish and French feeds were split in 1999. A Polish feed launched a year earlier, in 1998.
On September 17, 1993, some Russian cities began receiving Cartoon Network Europe through broadcasts from the Astra satellite.[30][31] The channel broadcast in English. Since July 1, 1996, the channel has been available from the Panamsat 4 satellite in the territories of Southern Russia and Ukraine, in the Asian republics of the former USSR.[32] In 1997, the channel's new distributor, Chello Zone, took over in the CIS.[33][34][35] In the same year, the channel was partially dubbed into Russian.[36]
In 1998, the channel began broadcasting on the territories of Belarus and Ukraine, the Baltic states and the North-West of Russia from the Astra 1G satellite. Broadcasting was 16 hours a day, from 8:00 to 0:00 MSK.,[37] at night, the channel carried Turner Classic Movies. In November 1999, the channel became available on the platform NTV Plus and other cable networks, broadcasting from the Sirius 2 satellite.[38]
In 1999, the network's British feed officially split off from the pan-European version. This followed after the shared transponder analogue feed on Astra 1C became scrambled with VideoCrypt and the short-lived British version of TNT was launched.[citation needed]
A Nordic feed was launched in 2000, broadcasting in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English. This also became available in Iceland and Finland.[citation needed] The Dutch Cartoon Network closed down in 2001. It was replaced with the pan-European feed in 2001. A Dutch audio track was simultaneously added. Greek subtitles became available the same year.[citation needed] The Polish feed branched into separate ones for Romania and Hungary in 2002. A German feed was launched in 2006. A Turkish feed was added in 2008.[39]
In April 2005, Cartoon Network Europe was completely dubbed into Russian.[40][41]
On October 1, 2008, a separate feed of Cartoon Network was created for Hungary and Romania, while the two additional audio tracks that were previously added to Cartoon Network Poland in 2002. Czech Republic and Slovakia both used to receive this channel feed in an English-language muted audio track.[citation needed].
On October 1, 2009, the channel was launched - Cartoon Network Russia, broadcasting in the countries of CIS and South-Eastern Europe.[42]
The network's Arabic feed launched in 2010, which is free-to-air on satellite and exist alongside the pan-European feed in pay-TV which would later split into another MENA feed on 1 July 2016.[43] This is the only EMEA-marketed feed not broadcast in English. On November 17, 2010, the Dutch feed relaunched and started broadcasting 24 hours a day and with a new logo. All programs and ads air in Dutch.[44] The Spanish feed shut down in 2013, together with the Spanish Cartoonito. This market would focus completely on the free-to-air channel Boing.[45] The Portuguese-speaking channel was launched in October 2013 in Angola and Mozambique. It launched in Portugal later in December.[46]
As of 2015[update], the ex pan-European feed still airs in the Greek part of Cyprus; it is also one of the four feeds available in the Middle East and Africa (the other ones being the Arabic, French, and Portuguese feeds). This pan-European feed broadcasts in English, while Greek subtitles are available. All other European countries had their own local or regional feed.
On September 1, 2017, the Central and Eastern European channel feed added a Czech-language audio track for its audience in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, replacing the English-language muted audio track.[47]
Launched in 2015, it formerly aired action-animated and anime programming, before shifting its focus to airing classic animated series in 2017, similar to Boomerang. It ceased broadcasting in 2018.[57]
