Teletoon Retro
Logo used from 2013 to 2015
CountryCanada
Broadcast areaNationwide
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerCorus Entertainment
Sister channelsCartoon Network
Adult Swim
Télétoon
YTV
Nickelodeon
ABC Spark
Treehouse TV
History
LaunchedOctober 1, 2007; 15 years ago
ClosedSeptember 1, 2015; 8 years ago
Replaced byCartoon Network

Teletoon Retro was a Canadian specialty channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment that was based on the Teletoon programming block. The service was dedicated to broadcasting classic animated television programs such as The Raccoons as well as some live-action series.

Along with its French-language sister channel Télétoon Rétro, it was available in over nine million Canadian households as of 2013; together it had the most subscribers among the digital Canadian specialty channels.[1]

Teletoon Retro was shut down on September 1, 2015, with Cartoon Network inheriting the service's CRTC license and some of its carriage agreements. That channel would later relaunch under Cartoon Network's own classic animation brand Boomerang in 2023.

History

Teletoon Retro started as a programming block on Teletoon. On November 24, 2000, Teletoon Canada was given approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a national English language category 2 specialty channel named Teletoon Retro.[2] The channel never made it to air.

The Teletoon Retro logo used from October 1, 2007, to February 4, 2013.

Plans to launch the channel arose again in 2005, when on October 25, Teletoon Canada was given approval again to launch Teletoon Retro.[3] The channel was launched at 6:00 PM EST on October 1, 2007, across all major television providers with its very first program being The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. To coincide with the channel's launch, Teletoon briefly relaunched the Retro programming block.[4] A French language counterpart, titled Télétoon Rétro, which had been given approval to be launched at the same time as Teletoon Retro, was launched on September 4, 2008.[5]

On February 4, 2013, the channel underwent a refresh with new graphics and bumpers created by John Lee, retiring the "television sets" era from 2009 to 2013. In addition, the channel also underwent a new logo, and the male announcer (still used on its parent network) was retired and replaced with a female announcer.

On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's 50% ownership interest in Teletoon Canada (owner of Teletoon, Télétoon, Teletoon Retro, Télétoon Rétro, and Cartoon Network), along with several other properties. The purchase was in relation to Bell Media's pending takeover of Astral (which had earlier been rejected by the CRTC in October 2012, but was restructured to allow the sale of certain Astral Media properties in order to allow the purchase to clear regulatory hurdles).[6] Corus's purchase was cleared by the Competition Bureau two weeks later on March 18.[7]

On December 20, 2013, the CRTC approved Corus's full ownership of Teletoon Canada[8][9] and it was purchased by Corus on January 1, 2014.[10] The channel continues to be owned by Teletoon Canada, now wholly owned by Corus Entertainment under its Corus Kids division.[11][12]

On March 1, 2014, a high definition simulcast of the channel was launched. The only two providers to carry it were Cogeco and Bell Fibe TV. Shaw Direct, SaskTel, Bell MTS, and Telus Optik TV never launched the feed in time.

In August 2015, Teletoon Retro's website announced that the channel would be shut down effective September 1, 2015; some of its programming was moved to the main Teletoon network.[13] On some providers, Teletoon Retro was replaced by either Disney Channel[14] or Cartoon Network.[15] The transition was legally structured so that Cartoon Network would cease to exist as a separately-licensed service as of September 1, 2015, and henceforth operate under Teletoon Retro's category B license instead.[16][17]

Cartoon Network was ultimately relaunched as a Canadian version of Boomerang on March 27, 2023,[18] thus returning a classic animation format to the former Teletoon Retro channel space.

Former programming

Teletoon Retro primarily aired classic animated programming; its CRTC license specified that programming had to have been produced at least 10 years prior. While primarily devoted to animation, its CRTC license allowed as much as 10% of its programming to be live action and animated cartoons such as The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and others;[2] as such, it also aired some live-action series, such as Batman, Fraggle Rock, and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. The network also aired 1980s action-genre cartoons: Transformers, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, ThunderCats, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Inspector Gadget.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "TELETOON Canada Inc. | TELETOON Retro Now Nine Million Subscribers Strong". Newswire.ca. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  2. 1 2 Decision CRTC 2000-697; CRTC; 2000-12-14
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-511; CRTC; 2005-10-25
  4. ↑ "TELETOON Launches New Digital Channel "TELETOON Retro"". September 4, 2007.
  5. ↑ Teletoon Retro launches for francophones; Media In Canada; 2008-06-12
  6. ↑ BCE to sell assets to Corus as part of Astral deal, The Globe and Mail (via Reuters and The Canadian Press), March 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ The Canadian Press (uncredited staff) (2013-03-18). "Competition Bureau clears Corus acquisition of Astral assets". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  8. ↑ Vessing, Etan (2013-12-20). "Corus/Teletoon Deal Approved by CRTC". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  9. ↑ "Press Release - Corus Entertainment Receives CRTC Approval on TELETOON Canada Inc., Historia and Séries+ Acquisitions". Corusent.com. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  10. ↑ "Press Release - Corus Entertainment Completes Purchase of Historia, Séries+ and TELETOON Canada Inc". Corusent.com. 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  11. ↑ "Ownership Chart 32b" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  12. ↑ Jeremy Dickson (2014-02-10). "Corus unveils Teletoon integration plan". Kidscreen. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  13. ↑ "Throwback cartoon network Teletoon Retro to shut down at the end of the month". The Canadian Press. August 9, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Changes to Kids Channels". VMedia. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  15. ↑ "Channel news and previews". SaskTel. Retrieved 1 September 2015. Cartoon Network (currently channel 98/398 HD) is being moved to channel 46/346 HD. It will be moved out of the Kids Theme Pack and will be available as part of the Basic maxTV package. The Cartoon Network will continue to carry the same programming.
  16. ↑ "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2015-451". CRTC. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Corus ownership chart" (PDF). CRTC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Kolm, Josh. "Corus rebrands its animation networks, taking Teletoon off linear TV". Media in Canada. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  19. ↑ "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2016-03-02. Alt URL
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