CNX (TV Channel)

Toonami was a British children's channel which aired from September 2003 to May 2007.

History

As CNX

Toonami was a programming block on Cartoon Network, until June 2002 when its programming was moved to the soon-to-be launched CNX.

On 24 September 2002, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced its launch on 14 October. CNX would be the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America.

To promote CNX, six people attempted to break the world record for continuous TV watching, set at 46 hours, 30 minutes, and 50.91 seconds. Three participants—Steven Hayes, Adam King, and Nick Tungett—succeeded, watching for 47 hours. They earned a place in the 2002 Guinness World Records, a £5,000 cash prize, and £2,000 in audio-visual equipment.

The channel was initially available on Sky Digital and NTL:home. At the time, Turner was in negotiations with Telewest to add the channel to their Active Digital cable service, and was soon added on 15 January 2003.

In April 2003, Turner Broadcasting System had considered launching a U.S version of CNX, but Mark Lazarus, the former head of Turner Entertainment, stated such a launch was "not imminent", and never materialised.

At the beginning of 2003, the channel introduced a Toonami programming strand that would air during the daytime hours. On 9 July 2003, Turner announced that CNX would close and rebrand as a standalone Toonami channel beginning in September 2003, with a Turner spokesperson citing that the adult market being "crowded and competitive" as the reason for its closure.

On September 1, it was officially revealed that CNX would rebrand as Toonami on September 8, and on that day, CNX closed for the final time at 1am and its slot on all platforms was moved to the "Kids" sections and relabeled as Toonami, which launched at 6am on that day.

CNX did not function like Turner's other kids channels, instead operating as a general entertainment network with children's programming during the day and more adult programming at night, which included martial arts movies, adult-oriented animation like the Adult Swim originals, and dramas like ''The Shield'', ''Birds of Prey,'' ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' and action film ''Point of No Return''.

Launch

On 9 July 2003, Turner announced that a standalone Toonami channel would replace CNX beginning in September 2003 and move to the kids section on the EPG, with a Turner spokesperson citing the adult market being "crowded and competitive" as the reason for the channel's closure.

On 1 September, it was officially announced that CNX would rebrand as Toonami on 8 September, and on that day, CNX's slot on all three platforms was moved to the "Kids" sections and relabelled as Toonami, which launched at 6 am on that day.

However, TOM (who was TOM 2, despite America already having switched to TOM 3) was ''not'' voiced by Steven Blum (minus when ''Lockdown'' aired on the channel in 2003), instead given a new voice actor: Christian Stevenson, otherwise known as DJ BBQ. Stevenson earlier hosted the CNX show ''Trailer Park'' alongside Ed Leigh. Previously, when Toonami was still a block on Cartoon Network UK, the block used TOM 1 and had a voice similar to Tansit from ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' narrating in its bumpers, which many fans believed to be TOM's voice.

In 2005, Toonami was added to the TV and video on demand kids' package for VNL's HomeChoice (now TalkTalk TV). Broadcasting for the channel involved using advanced MPEG-4 compression technology, the first TV channel in the world to do so.

On 6 March 2006, Toonami changed its focus from action cartoons to entertainment in general, as the channel moved to Sky 602 and began airing five live-action shows: '' Backyard Science'', '' Parker Lewis Can't Lose'', ''Stencil'', '' Hangin' with Mr. Cooper'' and ''Life with Derek''. Additionally, the entire design of the channel was overhauled, with the stark, simplistic black, white and red logos replaced with blue, as well as the introduction of giggling, blob-like mascots that populated the channel's bumpers and idents.

Merger with Cartoon Network Too

On 2 May 2007, Turner announced that Toonami would cease operations on 24 May 2007 and its EPG slot would be taken over by Cartoon Network Too. This was to allow a full-time Cartoonito channel to launch in Cartoon Network Too's original slot on Sky. On May 24, Toonami ceased operations at 3:00 am and Cartoon Network Too moved into the space shortly afterwards.

2006 power outage

On the night of 26–27 July 2006 Cartoon Network Too, along with its sister channels, suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in Soho, London, owing to the 2006 European heat wave, with thunderstorms taking full force overnight.

The power cut caused a mix-up of Turner Broadcasting System Europe channels (''i.e.'' Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang and Toonami, with Boomerang being broadcast on Cartoon Network Too). Boomerang +1 was off-air for some time, while TCM, reverted between TCM France and other programming during the times it was able to provide a service.

TCM 2 remained unaffected due to its downtime of time-sharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel websites were offline also. Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people confused when Cartoon Network Too and Boomerang were showing episodes of The Flintstones at the same time. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this programme due to technical problems, and we are trying to correct the fault. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages.

While most channels returned to the air within 5–10 minutes, it took longer for Cartoon Network Too to resume programming, and it was also joked on various animation based forums by Toonami UK viewers, many of whom have made note of their disdain for the direction in which Turner took the brand in the UK, that the backup transmission was more entertaining, purely due to the lack of live action programming aired during the outage.

The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the power cut displayed the message "Sorry! Toonami is broken, we'll be right back as soon as we fix it.". These idents have since been re-used in disclaimers warning viewers not to try stunts on various shows at home.

Idents

When the channel launched in 2003, the idents would be the Toonami logo in the Sensor Room, or TOM's face, with a voice whispering Toonami. There were also bumpers in the Sensor Room showcasing the latest games, movies, and shows, with TOM displaying the awkward and dorky personality he was known for on the US Toonami. Sara was also in these bumpers, serving as the straight man to TOM's excited demeanor.

Toonami rebranded in 2004 and got rid of TOM. The idents were on a pale cyan background (alike Cartoonito's) and were based on CNX's idents. They had a black rectangle filling up with white before the white part turned into the Toonami logo.

In 2006, Toonami rebranded for the final time using the logo in an azure background and colored monsters which would play with the Toonami logo. The shutdown ident on the website was the Toonami logo, with the "Too" part pushing away the "nami" and the logo changing into the Cartoon Network Too logo on the same background from the 2004 idents.

Programming

Programming Block on Cartoon Network (until June 2002)

*'' Batman of the Future''
* ''Dragon Ball''
* ''Dragon Ball GT''
* ''Dragon Ball Z''
* ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing''
* '' The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest''
* '' Tenchi in Tokyo''
* ''Tenchi Muyo!''
* '' Tenchi Universe''
* '' X-Men: Evolution''

TV Channel
*'' Backyard Science''
*'' Batman: The Animated Series''
*'' Batman of the Future''
*'' Battle B-Daman''
*''Beyblade''
*'' Blue Water High''
*''Code Lyoko''
* '' Cybersix''
* ''Dragon Ball''
* ''Dragon Ball GT''
* ''Dragon Ball Z''
*'' Duel Masters''
* '' Hangin' with Mr. Cooper''
* ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe''
* ''Justice League''
* ''Justice League Unlimited''
* '' Kirby: Right Back at Ya!''
* '' Kong: The Animated Series''
* ''Life with Derek''
* '' Loonatics Unleashed''
* '' Medabots''
* ''Megas XLR''
* ''Monster Rancher''
* ''One Piece''
* ''Outlaw Star''
* '' Parker Lewis Can't Lose''
* ''Pokémon''
* '' Pokemon Chronicles''
* '' Rave Master''
* '' Samurai Jack''
* '' Star Wars: Clone Wars''
* '' Static Shock''
* ''Stencil''
* ''Teen Titans''
* ''The Big O''
* '' Transformers: Energon''
* ''Ultimate Muscle''
* '' X-Men: Evolution''

See also

* Cartoon Network (British and Irish TV channel)
* Cartoonito (British and Irish TV channel)
* Cartoon Network Too
* Adult Swim (UK & Ireland)

References

External links

Official site

Toonami from Turner info site
{{Turner Broadcasting System Europe

Children's television channels in the United Kingdom
Television channels and stations established in 2002
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003
Television channels and stations established in 2003
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007
Turner Broadcasting System UK & Ireland