Cartoon Network, commonly abbreviated as CN, is a British television channel available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk Plus TV and UPC Ireland. Distributed by Turner Broadcasting System Europe . The channel primarily shows animated programming and was launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Cartoon Network Europe on 17 September 1993. The United Kingdom was the first country to have a Cartoon Network headquarters outside of the United States in 1993, serving Western Europe, but did not have a country specific version until 1999. This was even though until 1999, the pan-European version only showed British advertisements, and a majority of its audience were British. All programmes on the pan-European version were dubbed in English, with different audio language channels when a translated programme is available, which were indicated as language symbols on Now/Next bumpers. Cartoon Network UK also serves as the English language feed for Europe, which is also used by Malta. Cartoon Network launched a high definition version of the channel on 14 September 2011. History Pre-launch On 1 October 1992, the original version of Cartoon Network was launched at CNN Center, Atlanta, USA. The channel was created in response of Turner Entertainment acquiring MGM's Cartoon and Film library in 1986 and the acquisition of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio and cartoon library in 1991. As a result of Turner purchasing MGM's Cartoon and Film library, Warner Bros pre-1948 content was also acquired, which included Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. At launch in the United States, Cartoon Network had a 8,500 hour cartoon library, and it became the first channel dedicated to cartoons. Six months after the launch, Cartoon Network expanded into foreign markets by launching a Latin American version of the channel dubbed in both Spanish, Portuguese and English. Cartoon Network's large animation library was in high demand in Western Europe and as a response to consumer demand, Cartoon Network Europe was launched on 17 September 1993, broadcasting from London. It launched only less than 12 months after the original American version and only 16 days after its main children's television rival, Nickelodeon UK. Launch The channel was originally twinned with movie channel TNT and ran from 05:00 until 19:00, with TNT taking over from 7pm to 5am. Sunday afternoons saw "Super Chunk", which showed back to back episodes of one show for two hours between 1pm and 3pm. Another feature was "The Longest Day", in which Cartoon Network ran for an extra four hours until 23:00 on 21 June, every year beginning in 1994. This slot was dedicated to full-length cartoon movies. The first theme was the Checkerboard theme, which showed graphics from its US counterpart and lasted until 1999. Also unlike its rival Nickelodeon, which was part of Sky Multichannels, Cartoon Network was free-to-air across Europe. Introduction of 24 hour service On 2 September 1996, Cartoon Network began running for an extra two hours until 21:00, and on 16 December 1996, it became a 24-hour channel, as did TNT on the Astra 1G satellite. However, a timesharing version of the channel called TNT & Cartoon Network continued to appear on some providers. Two years later on 19 December 1998, Cartoon Network launched as part of the Sky Digital satellite platform on the Astra 2A satellite. Also, in February 1997, Dutch cable provider A2000/KTA added the 24-hour Cartoon Network and TNT channels to its programming lineup. From 15 November 1998, Cartoon Network was part of ITV Digital's channel package, airing 24 hours a day until the service collapsed on 1 May 2002. Separation from Pan-European version Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_Network_(UK_%26_Ireland)Public domain image sourced from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cartoon_Network_2010_logo.svg

• published: 18 Sep 2013
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