 | |
| Country | Italy |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Italy San Marino Vatican City Switzerland Malta |
| Programming | |
| Languages | Italian English |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV 576iSDTV (+1 timeshift channel) |
| Ownership | |
| Parent | Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA |
| Sister channels | Boomerang Boing Cartoonito Frisbee K2 |
| History | |
| Launched | 17 September 1993; 32 years ago (1993-09-17)(as part ofCartoon Network Europe) 31 July 1996; 29 years ago (1996-07-31)(as separate feed) |
| Closed | 31 December 2025; 32 days' time (2025-12-31)[1] |
| Links | |
| Website | cartoonnetwork |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Sky Go | Cartoon Network HD |
| Now | Cartoon Network HD |
Cartoon Network is the Italian version of theU.S. television channel of the same name. The channel, apay TV channel available onSky Italia andUPC Switzerland, is owned byWarner Bros. Discovery under its International division, and primarily airs animated series. The channel was originally launched as part of the larger pan-European feed back in September 1993.
The channel's official announcers areAndrea Piovan from 1996 to 2004,[2] Paolo Monesi,[3][4]Lorenzo Scattorin since 2013[5] andGianluca Iacono since 2016.[6]
After the launch of the pan-European Cartoon Network Europe feed, distributed from theUnited Kingdom, on 17 September 1993,[7][8] the channel distributed a multilingnual feed to 34 European countries, among them Italy, from late 1994. The channel, available via satellite, included fourteen hours of cartoons for children, timesharing with TNT, with ten hours of movies. In January 1996, Turner Broadcasting signed an agreement with Atena to transmit Cartoon Network to the Italian public through theTelepiù satellite package. Being the first digital satellite bouquet in Italy, the channel added an Italian audio track for part of the programming.[9]
On 30 June 1996, a Cartoon Network-branded programming block was introduced onTelemontecarlo's second network, TMC2. It was an hour-long block (from 7:45pm) presented byEmanuela Panatta and Beppe Rispoli. The block was officially launched the following day, airing content fromHanna-Barbera's archives and, sometimes, fromWarner Bros. Television andMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[10][11][12] The block was also broadcast on Telemontecarlo in the morning, while on Sundays it aired a special edition in the afternoon.[13][14] When it was on air, the block had an average share of 4,00 - 4,50% in the morning and 6,00% in the evening, with circa 200-300 overall viewers,[14] figures higher than the network's average.
Cartoon Network Italy started broadcasting on 31 July 1996 on the Italiansatellitepay TV platform TELE+ Digitale, and it later began available also onStream TV'scable and satellite bouquet. Initially it broadcast 14 hours a day timeshared with TNT, only with the English audio track available.[15] In Switzerland, the channel was distributed byCablecom Ticino.[16][17]
In October 1997,Stream TV began distributing a 24/7 Italian-language feed of the channel, also making it available on Telepiù. By June 1998 it split off creating a unified Spanish, French and Italian feed of Cartoon Network. The three versions were divided into channels of their own in August 1999.[9]
Its official website opened in April 2000.[18][19] In March 2001, Simona Fabbri became the channel's first director of content, Turner chose her in order to make it the most-watched kids channel in Italy. At the time, 1.6 million households in Italy and Ticino had access to the channel.[16]
Following the buyout of Telemontecarlo to create the current La7, the Cartoon Network block returned from 2001 to 2004 under the new nameCartoon Network Week-end and laterCartoon CARTOON, presented by Panatta alone. At the time, the website was also made available at the Turbo Web service atVirgilio's Tin.it Family package. According to the ISPO 2002 study, by mid-2002, 757,000 children under 14 watched the channel for a daily average of 68 minutes. Its website had over 80,000 unique visitors and over three million page visits.[20]
On 31 July 2003, it became exclusively available onSky Italia, born after the two previous pay TV providers merger.[21] That same day, the +1 timeshift started broadcasting. The channel contributed, alongsideBoomerang, to the diffusion and success of Sky representing one of the most appreciated and watched content on the platform, together with CNN.[22]
In 2004, Turner Broadcasting System participated withWind at the time of the launch of thei-mode service in Italy, sealing an agreement, the first in the world, to distribute Cartoon Network onmobile TV.[22]
In February 2006, Medita and Neo Network, partner of the channel for the management of multimedia and web services, collaborated for the creation of the Cartoon Network Gang web community. Accessible from Cartoon Network's official website, the community gave the possibility of accessing the schedule, listed by Medita, and an online magazine supplied by Neo Network.[23]
On 11 September 2006, like what happened to other versions of the channel abroad before, the channel rebranded to theCity era along with a new logo.[24].
On 8 December 2008, the channel became available onMediaset Premium, in tandem with the launch of the new Premium Fantasy package of kids channels.[25][26][27] The arrival coincided with its special marathon for the tenth anniversary ofThe Powerpuff Girls, which was scheduled for the same day.[28]
The channel rebranded again on 29 November 2010, to theCHECK it. era, with the new sloganCe N'è., uniting it with the original American channel, this coincided with the Italian premiere ofBen 10: Ultimate Alien.[29][30]
On 28 November 2016, anHD feed began transmitting exclusively on Sky Italia.[31]
On 1 June 2018, the channel closed on Mediaset Premium.[32]
On 1 May 2020, the channel became available onNow, replacingDisney Channel following its closedown.[33][34]
On 15 December 2020, Cartoon NetworkSD feed closed (after being limited to Sky Go since March), becoming thus only available in HD. However, its +1 timeshift channel is still only available in SD.
On 15 March 2021, Cartoon Network launched the "#ioSonoDiverso" (I'm Different) campaign to celebrate diversity through four short films presented by several testimonials: singer-songwriterFrancesco Gabbani, female footballerSara Gama, presenterAndrea Delogu and youtuber CiccioGamer89. The shorts were animated by youtuberSio and Fraffrog e and aired from 15 March to 14 June 2021, accompanied by characters fromSteven Universe,The Powerpuff Girls,The Amazing World of Gumball,Adventure Time andWe Bare Bear. Before the shorts aired, Cartoon Network revealed the arrival of shorts from another campaign, "Be a Buddy not a Bully", in order to raise awareness ofbullying among kids, which aired from July 2021.[35][36].
FollowingSky's NowForTheKids initiative, some of its programs were available from 21 April 2022 also available in theUkrainian language with dubs or subtitles on Now for Ukrainian refugee children who fled the country due to thewar.[37] In June, Cartoon Network finished a refurbishing project of green areas inMilan,Florence andNaples, respectively: the Gardin of Desires, the Cubattoli garden and the Viviani Park orchard. The project even included the re-evaluation of the green areas and of the eplay xones, the planting of trees, the creation of seats and systems that can facilitate aggregation and educational paths and the decoration of areas and walls with characters from the network.[38] In occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the network, a special event was held inRome on 27 December 2022, during which a light show was held with drones forming characters fromCourage the Cowardly Dog,The Powerpuff Girls,Ben 10,Adventure Time,The Amazing World of Gumball,We Bare Bears eThe Heroic Quest of Prince Ivandoe, accompanied by music from their respective shows.[39][40]
In May 2025, Cartoon Network Italy’s website along with Boomerang’s were sunsetted with the domains pointing to their YouTube channels. The channel will leave Sky Italia on 1 January 2026, it is unknown if it will shut down.[41]
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Cartoon Network +1 is a 1 hour timeshift channel based on the United Kingdom and Ireland television channel of the same name launched on 31 July 2003, used also as a channel to air temporary special programmings.
From 4 to 12 February 2017 Cartoon Network +1, along with theBritish version, became Cartoon NetworkLego Days, airing only LEGO series and movies. This schedule got repeated from 27 October to 4 November 2018 and from 18 to 27 October 2019.[42]
From 4 to 14 March 2021 the channel became a We Bare Bears channel, airing onlyWe Bare Bears.[43]
Division ofWarner Bros. Discovery | |
| Channels & blocks (U.S.) | |
| International |
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| Cartoonito | |
| Studios & Streaming | |
| Albums | |
| Defunct | |
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| Terrestrial digital |
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