Teletoon Logo Used 2011-Present
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Teletoon was a Canadian TV network co-owned by Astral Media and Corus Entertainment. It is availible in English (Teletoon) and French (Télétoon). In their logo, Teletoon is branded as TELETOON. Teletoon has been airing Johnny Test since October 28, 2006.
On February 21, 2023, Corus announced that Teletoon would be rebranded as Cartoon Network on March 27, 2023; the existing Cartoon Network channel concurrently relaunched under Cartoon Network's sibling brand Boomerang (which will be devoted to library programming and classic franchises); the Teletoon brand would continue to be used for its companion streaming service Teletoon+, and its French-language feed.
History[]
Licensed in 1996 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the channel was launched on October 17, 1997 with the first episode of Caillou and the slogan The Animation Station, later adding and then switching to It's Unreal! It was owned by a consortium made up of various other Canadian specialty services and producers; Family Channel acting as managing partner at 53.3% (Astral Media and Western International Communications), YTV at 26.7% (Shaw Communications), and Cinar and Nelvana with 10% each.
When Teletoon was launched in 1997, it showed more mature fare as the day progressed, with a strong commitment to air diverse and international programming, and the ability to air a great majority of material uncut. A typical broadcast day started with preschool content at 7:00 a.m. EST and ended with adult content after midnight, airing more adult cartoons such as Duckman and various anime programs.
In its second year, Teletoon was supposed to air the cult favourite series, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and had the show referenced in many promotional materials. However, despite being printed in television listings for weeks, the show was never aired on the channel. In 2004, the channel began airing that show's spin-off, The Brak Show. Space Ghost began airing in the fall of 2006.
In 1999, Teletoon started airing bumpers with its first mascot, Teletina. These bumpers were made by Spin Productions in Toronto. Several more bumpers using CGI animation with some made by Guru Studio premiered on the channel in 2001. The bumpers were removed in 2007 as part of an on-air rebranding. On February 5, 2007, Teletoon's on-air appearance and its website were dramatically changed, the website for The Detour block was moved to teletoon.com, and the aesthetic appearance of both the normal block and The Detour changed.
On September 6, 2011, Teletoon's on-air branding changed to reflect the 50th anniversary of one of its owners, Astral Media, and to reflect the transition of the digital television. The Teletoon at Night block had its on-air appearance unchanged.
Through various acquisitions over the years, ownership resulted in Astral Media and Corus Entertainment each owning a 50% stake in the service. On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's 50% ownership interest in Teletoon Canada (owner of Teletoon, Télétoon, Teletoon Retro, Télétoon Rétro, and Cartoon Network). The purchase was in relation to Bell Media's takeover of Astral (which had earlier been rejected by the CRTC in October 2012, but was restructured to allow the sale of certain Astral Media properties in order to allow the purchase to clear regulatory hurdles). Corus's purchase was cleared by the Competition Bureau two weeks later on March 18; on December 20, 2013, the CRTC approved Corus's full ownership of Teletoon and ownership was transferred on January 1, 2014.
Programming[]
- Johnny Test
- Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart
- Bunnicula
- Adventure Time
- Batman: The Animated Series
- Camp Lakebottom
- Clarence
- Inspector Gadget (2015)
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
- Steven Universe
- Supernoobs
- Bakugan Battle Planet
- Cupcake & Dino: General Services
- D.N. Ace
- Hotel Transylvania: The Series
- Super Dinosaur
- Total DramaRama
- Wishfart