Cartoonito (UK & Ireland)

Cartoonito
Launched 4 September 2006 (timeshared channel with CN Too and TCM 2)
24 May 2007 (broadcast hour expansion)
15 January 2018 (full 24-hour channel)
Owned by Turner Broadcasting System Europe Ltd
Picture format 576i (16:9 SDTV)
Audience share 0.07% (April 2017 (2017-04), BARB)
Slogan Let's Go!
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Broadcast area United Kingdom
Ireland
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Sister channel(s) Cartoon Network
Boomerang
CNN International
Turner Classic Movies
Website www.cartoonito.co.uk
Availability
Satellite
Sky Channel 619
Cable
Virgin Media (UK) Channel 706
TalkTalk Plus TV Channel 488
WightFibre Channel 109
Virgin Media (ROI) Channel 618
IPTV
BT Channel 488
Plusnet Channel 488
Eir Vision Channel 619
Streaming media
Sky Go Watch live
(UK and Ireland only)
Now TV Watch live (UK only)
TVPlayer Watch live (UK only) (TVPlayer Plus subscription required)
Virgin TV Anywhere Watch live (UK only)

Cartoonito is a British television channel aimed at pre-school viewers under the age of 6 years,[1] operated by Turner Broadcasting System as a sister channel to Cartoon Network in the UK and Ireland.

History

Cartoonito was originally a programming block on Cartoon Network Too with it airing between 06:00 and 15:00. It started on 4 September 2006 with it airing for the last time (as a block on Cartoon Network Too) on 23 May 2007 as it got its own channel as a replacement for the original version of Cartoon Network Too. As it was no longer a block on Cartoon Network Too, it expanded its broadcasting hours to 03:00 until 19:00, timesharing with Turner Classic Movies 2, another UK-only spin-off channel from Turner Classic Movies.

In addition, the programming block agreements with Cartoon Network Too terminated, which made it 24 hours for the first time as it replaced Toonami as the current version. However, from September 2009 until March 2010, Boomerang gave up its morning programming for a new Cartoonito slot, terminating its 24-hour schedule which had been in place since 2001.

On 25 March 2010, Cartoonito was added to Virgin Media on channel 706.[2] In early 2011, Cartoonito changed its hours to 04:00 until 20:00, and revamped its early hour schedule to include more pre-school orientated shows.

Despite Turner Classic Movies 2 closing on 13 August 2013 at 4:00am, and being replaced with Turner Classic Movies +1 later in the day, the British version of Cartoonito continued to only broadcast from 4:00am to 9:00pm.

On 15 December 2016, Cartoonito was added to TalkTalk on channel 488.[3]

Cartoonito UK switched to 16:9 Widescreen on 1 November 2017. The channel started broadcasting 24 hours a day on 15 January 2018.[4]

On 2nd March 2018, Cartoonito UK rebranded, the channel is now using the same graphics package as Cartoonito Italy.[5]

Programming

Mascots

The mascots of the channel are the titular CGI-animated Cartoonitos, anthropomorphic 6 3D shapes named Cuba (a red male cube), Ting (a pink female star), Spike (a blue male square-based pyramid), Bubble (a yellow female sphere), Lolly (a purple female cylinder), and Ringo (a green male ring).

Back when the brand (and later channel) launched, half of them spoke French, and were named Dink, Ting-a-ling, Zip, Bobble, Lully, and Rollo respectively. It continued until late 2009.

In late 2017 with the relaunch of the channel in Italy (and later the UK), the Cartoonitos also gained a new refreshed look, and no longer talk. They are now animated in Flash Animation.

References

  1. ↑ Archived 15 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Virgin Media Expands Kids' Line-up with Cartoonito". Virgin Media. 1 March 2010.
  3. ↑ "Cartoonito UK Now Available On TalkTalk TV". Regular Capital. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Cartoonito UK Now Available 24 Hours A Day". Regular Capital. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Cartoonito UK Rebranded 2nd March 2018". RegularCapital: Cartoon Network News. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
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