 | |
| Broadcast area | Italy |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Rome |
| Programming | |
| Language | Italian |
| Picture format | 576iSDTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Jetix Italy S.r.l. (2004–2009) Switchover Media (2009–2013) Discovery Italia (2013–2022) Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA (2022–present) |
| Sister channels | Boomerang Boing Cartoonito Cartoon Network Discovery Discovery Turbo DMAX Food Network Frisbee Giallo HGTV HTV Nove Real Time |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 October 2004; 21 years ago (2004-10-01) (block) 15 June 2009; 16 years ago (2009-06-15) (channel) |
| Replaced | Fox Kids (Block) |
| Former names | K-2 (Block) |
| Links | |
| Website | wbditalia |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Digital terrestrial television | Channel 41 |
| Streaming media | |
| Discovery+ | K2 |
K2 is an Italianfree-to-air television channel owned byWarner Bros. Discovery EMEA, a division ofWarner Bros. Discovery for children between 4 and 14 years of age. Itsregistered office is inRome. It launched on 1 October 2004 as a syndicated television strand.
K2 was launched on 1 October 2004 as an analogue-based block from 5pm to 7pm, which was syndicated in other Italian regional television stations, replacing Fox Kids in the process during its rebrand into Jetix.[1] In 2009, it was launched as its own digital terrestrial television channel.[2]
Due to Disney's decision to rebrand the Jetix Europe operation under the Disney XD brand umbrella, the Italian subsidiary of Jetix Europe, Jetix Italy S.r.l., bought the Italian Jetix network, renamed itself asSwitchover Media, agreed to let the Jetix Italy channel rebrand itself to Disney XD Italy, and purchased K-2 andGXT fromJetix Europe in June 2009.[3][4]
In this period 2 channels popped up, K2 Extra and K2 Plus, however, they were just copies of the original channel and were removed in December 2012.
With the acquisition of Switchover Media in January 2013 byDiscovery Communications, K2 began to be managed byDiscovery EMEA.[5]
On 17 May 2021 AT&T andDiscovery, Inc. reached a definitiveReverse Morris Trust agreement, in which WarnerMedia wouldspin out from AT&T as an independent company that in turn will acquire Discovery's assets. The $43-billion cash/securities/stock transaction, which will include the retention of certain existing WarnerMedia debt, is expected to be finalized by 8 April 2022. Upon completion, K2 and all other assets of Discovery would be combined with the WarnerMedia assets (such asAdult Swim,Boomerang,Cartoon Network,HBO,Cinemax,CNN and more). AT&T shareholders will own 71% of the company's stock and Discovery shareholders will own the remaining 29% share; Discovery President/CEODavid Zaslav will be appointed to head the new company, replacing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.[6][7][8][9]
In April 2022, the merger betweenWarnerMedia andDiscovery, Inc. was completed, formingWarner Bros. Discovery, and K2 was transferred toWarner Bros. Discovery EMEA as part of it.[10]
The channel is aimed for 4-14-year-olds, airing mostly children's shows likeAlvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks,Oggy and the Cockroaches,Zig & Sharko andTotal DramaRama. During 10:00pm and 1:00am, along with its sister channelFrisbee, it airs a block called Family Club, with educational shows taken from Discovery's other channels, likeHow It's Made andHow Do They Do It?. During the night instead, it airs recent French shows taken off from the daily schedule, such asThe Daltons andMr. Magoo. On weekends, it airsPokémon marathons andTotal Drama. Whenever movies are aired (mostly on Mondays), they're repeated on Saturday at 1.00pm and Sunday at 9.00am.
From 2011 to 2013, the channel broadcast movies from the pre-2004Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library andDIC Entertainment and then from 2014 to 2021 movies fromDreamWorks Animation andUniversal Pictures.
The channel's current advertising is managed byPRS Media Group.
Discovery completed its $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T on Friday to form new company Warner Bros. Discovery.
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