In case you haven’t heard, David Zaslav bought the former AOL Turner Time Warner Brothers Othernames only to sell it off. He had planned to keep his Discovery Network stuff I think, but long story short Paramount fought for the whole thing. Certain Hollywood types are fighting it because it’s only okay when Disney tries to buy every piece of media in the world…on second thought, that’s all political BS we don’t care about on this site. Skydance, who bought Paramount, is still working their way around the world trying to get the merger confirmed because they have branches in other countries. As of this writing it’s the UK’s turn.
Cord Cutter News is of the opinion that a huge sticking point is that Skydance would then own two of the big names in TV children’s programing, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. According to this article in particular it looks like Skydance has stated that if this is a dealbreaker anywhere they’d be willing to sell of Cartoon Network. Thus far every country, including the US, hasn’t been all that concerned. That’s because they’re both separate networks with their own target audience and content. Nickelodeon is strictly a kids channel until the US kiddies are in bed, and then goes over to Nick At Nite. Cartoon Network ends around the same time and Adult Swim takes over. Nickelodeon still has a Nicktoons channel in the US while Cartoon Network ended Boomerang, their former home for older cartoons when the channel took on more and more new shows.
Their only competition come from classic cartoon channel MeTV Toons, free streaming channels like WB’s own Cartoon Rewind, a binge/marathon channel which is only on Amazon Prime and only has like six shows or something on repeat, and Kartoon Channel, which has finally started getting some good shows like the 2003 He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe reboot. Plus you have show-exclusive channels and of course on demand options. Still, let’s act like the UK and any remaining countries are okay with Skydance owning both channels and their spinoffs…of which Cartoon Network has none in the US but Boomerang is still an option in other countries. The question is how could they restructure those channels and still make them unique destinations for kids entertainment?
First off, let’s remember that right now Warner Brothers Discovery owns quite possibly the largest animation library on Earth. Time Warner already had Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, and Ruby-Spears’ old work while still creating new stuff through Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Brothers Animation. Adult Swim is run by Williams Street and possibly won’t be part of the deal, leaving questions about the fate of the Toonami block and Adult Swim originals. Meanwhile Discovery Networks, which I think is part of the deal, brought in all the shows made for Discovery Kids and Discovery Family, plus whatever they got to keep from the The Hub, the short-lived venture with Hasbro between Discovery Kids and Discovery Family. Paramount has some animation of its own but Nickelodeon and Nicktoons originals are available to them as well. Nickelodeon focuses on live-action but still made their own shows while Nicktoons carried some of those and their originals. Both also have their own preschool content with Nick Jr., which still has it’s own TV channel, and Cartoonito, a programming block on Cartoon Network. So how many channels will they actually own since HBO Max has so few animation offerings despite HBO also having original cartoon productions? (Note that I don’t know what HBO Max’s streaming channels are since we have the low tier.)
- Cartoon Network
- Boomerang (in some countries)
- Nickelodeon
- Nicktoons
- Nick Junior (cable and streaming options)
- Cartoon Rewind (on Amazon Prime)
- Discovery Family (as far as I know)
- a few WB channels
- two different Ninja Turtle branded channels, one of which shows other Nick cartoons and the other actually only Turtles…and oddly not the one called Totally Turtles
- streaming options on YouTube as well for both Warner Brothers and Nickelodeon options
I may even be missing some in the US alone. That’s a lot of channels to maintain. Paramount Skydance may care more about kids TV than Warner Brothers Discovery but we’re also talking about older shows everybody is probably writing off as nostalgia. For the record I’m no programming expert, but there has to be a streamlined way to run this. YouTube is easy. You don’t need money to have a channel, just for features they probably don’t need since they aren’t independent content creators. So let’s focus on TV and streaming.
What I wouldn’t do is cut ties with MeTV Toons or Tubi. They seem to be doing a great job with the older shows, and why let that content go to waste when they couldn’t possibly stream all of it at one time? Whatever you aren’t using you still make money on. Nickelodeon would still be for the live-action shows, so that problem’s solved. Maybe have a cartoon to fill time, but merge Nicktoons and Cartoon Network under the more well known Cartoon Network banner. Ted Turner started that channel out of his love of cartoons, and it grew from a retro channel to its own channel. If Adult Swim parts ways, you still have the classic shows for older toon fans, like Nickelodeon does with Nick At Nite, while original shows and shows that still connect with kids today would be in the daytime slot. Bonus if the Williams Street deal is still in effect, because they know how to get anime for Toonami and have produced original shows like Lazarus. Also, Cartoon Network should bring back the weekly Cartoon Theater and show animated movies. I don’t know why they stopped. Seeing Spirited Away on CN is how I got through a hospital stay in 2008.
On streaming, shows could get their own channel. Instead of airing Avatar The Last Airbender on Totally Turtles, give it their own channel. Yes, that would sadly include The Legend Of Korra but I’ve seen shows with less seasons have their own 24/7 channel. Redo Cartoon Rewind as a proper retro channel for everything MeTV Toons and Tubi don’t want. It’s easier to watch what shows they both share on MeTV Toons or Tubi because Cartoon Rewind requires you to spend too much time marathoning one of a small number of shows that you have to catch at the right time. Unless Amazon has an exclusive deal, offer it to the other services like Tubi, Sling, and Roku. Plex looks like they’ll take anything. Just as Game Show Network and Newsmax offer an alternate streaming channel (Game Show Central is also available as an antenna station in certain areas), make Cartoon Rewind that alternate channel from Cartoon Network for old shows and a Cartoon Network for streaming/antenna for new product.
So you’d have a streaming channel for Nickelodeon’s live action offerings, Cartoon Rewind for older shows (with better scheduling) and a Cartoon Network2 for newer cartoons. You’d also have Cartoonito’s offerings on Nick Junior because in that case the Nick brand is more well known than Cartoonito and already has its own TV and streaming networks. On television, merge Cartoon Network and Nicktoons Network into one channel with regular Nickelodeon focusing on live-action. NEVER DO THAT “CN REAL” CRAP AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! Although I guess some of those shows will crossover. I don’t know if Nickelodeon still does their kids sports channel, but that would make a great free streaming channel. Still offer stuff to other streamers and get bonus revenue that way through the license deal, but if you want ALL of it, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, or however they merge the two (just go with HBO as it’s the bigger TV brand and you don’t want to lose that) would be that option.
Meanwhile, Pluto TV will be the ad-sponsored option that will also be using other streaming offerings not owned by Skydance plus the stuff they do. With all of those acquisitions in kids and adult spaces with or without cartoons they’d be foolish to lose it. All of the stuff offered through cable or ad-sponsored streaming would be there, all in one spot so you don’t go switching between free services. However, if someone is on Tubi at the time and wants to watch a Scooby-Doo offering, let them. It’s still some money in your pocket. So the whole channel line-up would look like this.
Television
- Cartoon Network
- Nickelodeon (maybe a Nick retro channel for their older favorites, but I’m focusing on the toons)
- Nickelodeon GAS, now with video game shows as well as sports
- If they still have the HBO Family Channel, use it for animated movies as well as live-action ones
- keep licensing to MeTV Toons
- Maybe put the educational stuff on Discovery Family? I thought that’s what Discovery Networks was for. Strange that everybody forget them, including Cord Cutters News. I even forgot for most of this article because nobody talks about it and as far as I know Discovery Networks is part of the deal. If I’m wrong, forget this bullet point. It’s what CN Real thought it was but actually good.
Streaming
- Cartoon Rewind for retro toons
- Nickelodeon for live-action kid shows, maybe a separate channel for sports and gaming; a “Gaming And Sports 2” if you will
- whatever shows can hold their own dedicated streaming or YouTube channel
- a Cartoon Network or “Cartoon Network Showcase” channel to make the cable/satellite people happy while showing new shows
- Pluto TV, HBO Max Plus Paramount Or Whatever, and licensed on demand
Finally there’s the existing studio option. Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Brothers Animation could split with CNS on newer properties and WBA handling the old stuff like Looney Tunes, DC, and Hanna-Barbera. Not sure if Nickelodeon has a dedicated studio or if Nickelodeon proper would give up Spongebob Squarepants but I’ll leave the messier details to them. They ain’t payin’ me for this. I’m just someone who wants to see them do something with all those animated shows, movies, and IP they have. Remind Disney how great cartoons are, because that’s why Walt started that company in the first place.
Streamlined and yet still able to use the large animation library alongside the live-action library. I would think that would keep the regulators happy while not having to sell anything off and continue to make money for them and offer us cartoon fans something to share with our kids or just connect to our own childhood favorites again to see if they hold up. Seems like the best move to me, but what do you think?
BW Media Spotlight 
-Keeping CN and Nick is a smart move, but it’s a bit tougher to envision a “Nick Rewind” channel for older material. When all the prior attempts have been “Adult Swim” type late night blocks that haven’t exactly had consistently stellar viewership, I’m not exactly confident.
-Nick GAS back with an increased focus on videogames and sports? Interesting idea, particularly if they can parlay deals like those holiday NFL/NHL kid-friendly presentations and make it a “regular season” thing. The gaming side might be cooked, though; “Nick Arcade” always struggled with having to be slightly educational, “GameFarm” tried way too many ideas and just came off as an even more depressing “X-Play,” and WB tried a couple of shows on Disney’s “DXP” block that were easily the worst stuff in those hours if memory serves.
-They don’t have HBO Family at the moment, which I find crazy. Of course, in its last days, it was basically a “zombie channel” that aired the same few movies and new episodes of “Sesame Street” every once in a blue moon (and “Crashbox,” the only way I knew it was still HBO). I suggest we turn one of the Cinemax channels into the next incarnation; they already have some DC Universe animated films in the rotation, so they’re halfway there.
-MeTv Toons has done way too much good work for any hypothetical to not keep it the way it is. That being said, maybe less AI edits of old shows ala “Super Mario Bros. Super Show” and “Garfield & Friends?”
-I honestly don’t know how to feel about Discovery Family. It’s got a good variety of shows in its various dayparts that I don’t have any objections to, and that they even bother with new bumper ads for shows throughout that roster is quite commendable, but I question if it occupies the same place Boomerang sits at in the WBD hierarchy, as in the execs don’t directly think about it, but a dedicated scheduler keeps an eye on it and occasionally pops on passionate Reddit threads to let viewers know they’re not being forgotten. At any rate, even if the ratings numbers don’t show it, the current DF formula clearly works.
-Cartoon Rewind could certainly use a wider variety of retro shows. Also a name change to a proven brand for such material: Boomerang.
-Nick becoming a repository for live action kid shows wouldn’t be too bad, but certainly a downgrade of a sort. See above for my thoughts on a “Gaming and Sports 2” streaming network, but getting the game shows back in front of young eyeballs would be most awesome. I certainly feel “Double Dare” and “GUTS” could stand some 2020s revivals from completely fresh production teams that never worked on the originals. Someone might request from Phil Moore the pitch bible for that “EnthLevel” Kickstarter thing the former “Nick Arcade” team tried a few years back and see if that could make an exciting addition to the new lineup.
-Yes, more dedicated channels to single beloved shows/brands. My suggestions on the CN side: Looney Tunes; Scooby-Doo; Cartoon Cartoons; Powerpuff Girls (with the 2016 reboot and Japan’s “Z” spinoff; yes, they’re awful, but good watchtime retainers and maybe interesting to audiences unfamiliar with them); DC Heroes; Cartoonito just for the heck of it; Toonami as a general action channel/repository for licensed Crunchyroll anime.
-So this “CN Showcase” channel would be just for new shows/projects? Shouldn’t that be just CN proper, reruns of popular old stuff during the day, new stuff in the primetime hours, maybe spinning off “Adult Swim” into its own channel like our Canadian brothers currently enjoy? Maybe “Showcase” as a streaming channel for just the new shows, but if I’m a cable operator, I expect more bang for the bucks I’m presumably still investing in this thing because I haven’t thought about my industry imploding since, like, 1995.
-“Pluto TV, HBO Max Plus Paramount Or Whatever, and licensed on demand.” I’ll just nod yes, gesture somewhat meaningfully at that giant Tubi logo in the corner, get back to binging “Thundarr the Barbarian” because “Scooby-Doo: The Sword and the Scoob” convinced me to, and wait, what were we talking about?
-I notice there’s one huge boy-centric CN brand that’s been left out of this convo that I feel could work well for quite a few of these ideas, one that’s currently used for the “Adult Swim” Saturday night/early Sunday lineup, one that had a “Rewind” block not so long ago that people kinda liked but didn’t watch enough to justify keeping alive, one that absolutely deserves a meaningful resurgence, or at least a dedicated episode of that upcoming CN 30th anniversary documentary to covering the branding history of it. “We’re just trying to build a better cartoon show. We call it Toonami.” Later.
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Toonami as a streaming channel would be hard because so much of their anime comes from Crunchyroll, who already has their own 24/7 livestreaming channel. It’s how I got to see Tomo-Chan Is A Girl and Miss Kuriotsu From Monster Development. I’m surprised some of those shows are on the Adult Swim app that wasn’t co-produced by Cartoon Network/Williams Street, like IGPX, Lazarus, or that crap season of The Big O. (Look what they did to our boy!) Maybe if it went back to the action shows. At least the original ThunderCats would have a chance to come back. Odd that Silverhawks, which I love, is getting more love on Tubi and MeTV Toons.
The fact that there isn’t already a dedicated streaming channel to Scooby-Doo confuses me. Franchises with less episodes and no movies TV or otherwise get their own channels.
I was thinking more eSports events on a new GAS than trying to stream let’s players. They already have channels that focus on let’s plays and I never watch them. It would be easier to just go to their YouTube, and they wouldn’t have to censor them. (Disney XD trying to show Jacksepticeye is like trying to work Escaflone into SatAM rules. Technically possible–but why?)
CN Showcase would be streaming, replacing Cartoon Rewind with branding and a schedule that isn’t binging the same six shows, at least three of which are on MeTV Toons. Also put Cartoon Theater back on that, or make a separate channel for cartoon movies.
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