Cable channels who used to air cartoons?

Hmm. Well, there you go. You're right. It's just remembered that Merrie Melodies went to color first in 1934.

Need to study Of Mice and Magic again.

Actually, they aired more Bosco shorts than Porky early on. Hell, until about 1994, Bosco was part of the show's opening and often the second short they showed in the half-hour.


Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon aired from September 12, 1988 to September 11, 1999. A good eleven-year run. TBS and TNT, which stopped airing cartoons in 1998, NEVER aired the Speedy/Daffy shorts. The Turner/Time Warner deal became official in 1996, a year after the deal was announced. That was Nick who ran them ad nauseum.

Looney Tunes aired on Nickelodeon three years before the Nicktoons arrived and stayed until the beginning of the 1999-2000 season, which saw the migration of all Looney Tunes cartoons to Cartoon Network marked with the Mil-Looney-Um marathon in November of 1999, the first time the post-1948 cartoons aired on any Turner-owned network. By September 2000, Looney Tunes were exclusive to Cartoon Network.
 
I understand that now, but what about the syndication package? TBS is, or atleast was, a superstation. So, the rules for them were different than TNT. So, it is possible that TBS purchased the syndication package for the Atlanta market and we got to benefit from that since they had a cable signal.

It's like when WGN aired Lizzie Maguire and Even Stevens, two shows exclusive to Disney on cable but on syndication in Chicago and those with access to their cable signal got to see it.
 
You DO know that TBS and WTBS had entirely different lineups, right? One was a national feed, and the other was Atlanta-only channel 17. Turner created their own packaging.

That's Warner Bros. was shown nationally on The WB, and Merrie Melodies was shown nationally on Fox Kids, not on cable. TBS had blocks like the Disaster Area and largely showed the cartoons they owned under their own packaging. Considering at the time Turner owned Tom and Jerry lock, stock, and barrel, they aired the Looney Tunes they had access in an omnibus block, The Tom and Jerry Show. Turner had a Bugs and Pals block on TNT and Bugs and Daffy on Cartoon Network, but they never aired That's Warner Bros. nor Merrie Melodies on their block.

Oh, and by the way. the Daffy/Speedy shorts NEVER AIRED ON MERRIE MELODIES AND THAT'S WARNER BROS, though a few did air on That's Warner Bros' successor show, The Bugs and Daffy Show in that series' second season, which was the 1997-98 season, and no, that didn't air on TBS. Here's the Merrie Melodies episode guide, and here's the That's Warner Bros. episode guide.
 
Exactly how different were they, Jeff? Nothing that aired on WTBS aired on TBS? Even the Atlanta Braves games? Only the national feed got that?



I remember.



That I don't remember. Then again, my local FOX affilate never aired FOX Kids. We had to watch FOX Kids on one of the Independent stations. And in 1995, that station was bought by WB. From 1995-97, both FOX Kids and Kids WB aired in the same channel. So, in my market either Merrie Melodies never aired or it was combined with That's Warner Bros. So, you have to remember that when talking about local markets, each one was different.



Largely, but not all, right?



Did they really label it Bugs and Pals? Looney Toons didn't have an opening as I recall. Basically you'd see their bumper with Pebbles and Bam-Bam playing instruments and a choir singing, "TNT Toons. TNT Toons. Toons on T-N-T" and the shorts suddenly started playing. And, yes, after all these years I still remember the darn jingle.
 
NO!

The national feed of TBS didn't air the same shows and lineup as the Atlanta feed because of the Syndex law.

Okay, class, take notes.

Syndication exclusivity, better known as Syndex, is a federal law in the US created to keep syndicated shows exclusive to local markets. The law prohibits airings of the same program on cable networks or superstations from airing by request of local stations. It's the reason why a whole lot of out-of-market network affiliates are no longer on cable dials. For example, in my neck of the woods, we had WDCA, WTTG, WWOR, WGN, Superstation WTBS, and WSBK as out-of-market networks. At the time, only TBS had a national feed which differed from the Atlanta feed. In other words, what we were watching on Superstation TBS wasn't exactly what they were watching on WTBS TV-17 in Atlanta. The other networks continued to air their simulcasts of their regular in-market lineups outside their markets until 1990 when the law became on the books.

When the Syndex law became official, WTTG was removed immediately because it was a Fox affiliate. WDCA continued for a while, though they were removed because there were too many blackouts on shows, until it was replaced by WSBK, which was replaced years later for similar reasons. WGN and WWOR created national feeds of their networks just for the cable market, often piping in older properties while newer shows remained market-exclusive. There was no problem with this until they became core affiliates of the two newer channels in the nation. WGN became a flagship WB affiliate while WWOR and WSBK became flagship UPN affiliates.

WWOR substituted UPN shows for older fare until it ended its superstation status in 1997, whose channel space was bought by Discovery Communications who used the former slot as a place to launch Animal Planet. WGN aired WB programming until late 1999 and reaffirmed its superstation status in the last decade, eventually becoming WGN America in the summer of 2008.

Pencils down.

They were exclusive to Disney, and people in Chicago have WGN America as a cable network. But Disney ceded that exclusivity because they had other shows newer at the time. Also, as you can see, they're no longer there.
 
The WTBS feed had news programming, certain syndicated shows exclusive to that market, and community programming not seen outside of Atlanta. Until recently, the Braves games were seen nationwide and in Atlanta. Now, WPCH-TV only shows Braves games while TBS has its own Major League Baseball package with fewer games featuring the Braves.

Well, Merrie Melodies only aired on Fox Kids from 1992-93.

No, it wasn't combined with That's Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies became That's Warner Bros. years later.

Right. The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Captain Planet, Dexter's Laboratory, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, all had their original opening packages. The shorts had their own unique network-made packaging.

Before TNT Toons, TNT packaged their kid-friendly lineup as TNT's Wild World of Shorts back in 1988 until about...

You know what? Read the history of TNT Toons at Misce-Looney-ous. Jon Cooke does it better than I.

Not really. WGN in Chicago doesn't have the same lineup as WGN America, and aside from certain news shows, baseball games, the MDA telethon, and the Bud Biliken parade, they don't share the same programming at all. They didn't show those Disney Channel sitcoms on the Chicago feed nor the Outta Sight Retro Night lineups.

In Chicago, they have Family Guy, Two and a Half Men, Tyra, Maury, Friends, and the CW lineup on WGN. Completely different beast.
 
Yes, that's all fine and dandy, but I was never debating you on the issue of the LT's airing on TBS or TNT or whatever, I was trying to prove you wrong when you claimed the LT's didn't start airing on Nickelodeon until around 1996.

Way to turn the tables around in your favor though...
 
1992-93? I hadn't made the full transition to FOX Kids yet. I was still watching Disney Afternoon. So, I guess I missed it.

And if this thread has reminded us of anything its that the `90s were a different beast. Nowadays its pretty much Nick, Disney, and CN. 10 years from now, these type of discussions will not exist. The `90s had those three in addition to ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC (for a while), UPN, WB, Family Channel, TBS, TNT, USA, the Independent stations, etc. Let's face it. No one here saw all the programming that these channels had to offer. The competition was intense. Especially when you had channels airing the same thing. ABC, CN, Nick, TBS, and TNT all aired Looney Tunes. That's a lot to keep up with. One chose a side and that's it.





I remember that now.
 
Jeff and Old Guy - I can help settle your debate about post-48 Warner cartoons airing on TBS.

Prior to 1996, no post-1948 Warner cartoons ever aired on the Turner-owned cable networks (TBS, TNT or Cartoon Network). However, in 1996 the package of post-1948 cartoons that Kids WB was using for That's Warner Bros./Bugs 'n Daffy started to broadcast on those three channels. In exchange, Kids WB was able to air the pre-48 Turner-owned cartoons on their short-lived Daffy Duck Show and in the final season of Bugs 'n Daffy. So, yes, Old Guy is correct. He likely saw these cartoons airing in that short window from 1996 to when the TBS/TNT cartoon blocks were retired in 1998. (For the record, that package did include a couple of Daffy/Speedy shorts.)
 
I also remember Family Channel showing the Archie cartoons from the 70s in 1994 (they also showed The New Archies back in 1993), as well as several other DiC shows liie Pole Position, The Littles, Starcom, and the nintendo shows. Also, USA briefly aired Hulk Hogans Rock N Wrestling around 95, and i only mention that here because at the time, USA had the rights to the WWF tv shows, but hogan himself had joined the rival wcw, which was owned by ted turner. Kind of weird to see Hogan on the USA network at that point.
 
No one remembers that TLC used to air cartoons (like the Magic School Bus).




I have some recordings on tape that shows it was during the pre-Fox era.
 
I remember, but how many people actually watched it? Cartoons on TLC, Discovery Kids, and other educational channels aren't exactly the most popular.



I stand corrected.
 
I'm starting to remember that, but then again, I could be confusing it with something else. TNT also aired Looney Tunes on weekday mornings. But, yeah, I think I recall watching Looney Tunes on FOX Kids. I wasn't a full-time FOX Kids viewer till 1993 when Power Rangers and Animaniacs were added to the mix, so if I did watch it then it was towards the end of its run. Hence why I barely remember it.

That does lead to a question though. What other shows were airing on multiple channels at the same time? Wasn't Beetlejuice airing on ABC and FOX at the same time? Then Nick picked up the cable rights. That's where I mostly watched the show - on Nick. They paired it up with Weinerville. Remember that show? lol.
 
I didn't ask the right question, I know they used clips from the movies during the opening titles. But I seem to recall (Or maybe I had a really awesome hallucination) that their used to be 2 (maybe shorter) minute clips before the show it self actually aired with Live Action Turtles addressing the kids.
The always used the same set which was a sewer tunnel and there was a ladder from them to climb up which they never did instead they ran off down the tunnel and off screen.
 
Even if i live in Canada in my era of the country, we having too some cable channels who air constantly cartoons in their lineups. Here's a list:

Showcase who showed at the origins a lot of good foreign shows (Like the English "He Shoots, He Scores" dubbing!) aired also a variety of cartoons and children's shows like Sharky & George, Ovide and the Gang, Inspector Gadget, The Mask, The Tick, Dumb & Dumber, Dudley the Dragon and many others. They dropped off of the schedule in 1999 for be a 100% fiction channel. Now, because it's owned by Canwest, the channel is now corrupted by network shows you seen in various others channels in a day. :(

Super Ecran who was our french channel for movies aired through the morning some cartoons, mostly imported of France. They also aired during the early years some nice Japanese animations like Lupin the 3rd but they don't during longtime. In the mid-90's they showed more american products like the 1990's Spider-Man series. Now they showed again but it's very limited to the two or three same shows who air in loop, but not in the main SE channel but in the SE2 i believe.

I remember that TV5 aired also some animations blocks during the lunchtime in 1995. I occasionally watching it but more for the cartoons even if it was boring. (France cartoons at my times was horribly made. Yeah, they having progress in the end-90's but because of the CGI, we feel to relieving this times!) Recently, they showed some shows was was aired before in Teletoon or Vrak.Tv like Pig City.

MusiquePlus, our national MTV aired also Beavis & Butt-Head until spring 2000. I remember watching a show named MusiquePluche who was a show with puppets characters. The first episode was very great but the rest turn out to a lame and uncreative show.

Prise2, a channel who air old shows and movies occasionally aired cartoons. Starting in november 2006, they showed The All-New Popeye Show, The Flintstones, a Bugs Bunny cartoons compilation and Scooby-Doo. With the months, they add the Yogi Bear spin-off series, the 1992's Batman, 1967's Fantastic Four, What's New Mr. Magoo?, the 1958-59's Felix the Cat, Casper, Lucky Luke and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I know they having complains why they aired too much of this cartoons in daytime. In march 2009, they reduced to 2 hours of cartoons per day and now since last fall, they show in the early mornings. (6am to 9am, no more!) I think we're not enough bright for appreciate cartoons because they showed only the sure values, the ones where peoples remember more.
 
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