What is Cartoonito?
Here in the United States, Cartoon Network is the only one of the Big Three children's channels that doesn't air preschool programming. Whereas Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney became household names with successful and even award-winning series, Cartoon Network filled up its daytime schedule with repeats of its current programs or reruns of Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry.
Despite this, Cartoon Network has made numerous attempts at airing series for preschool-aged viewers. Their last (and most notable) attempt was back in 2005 with Tickle-U, a 9 to 11 a.m, block of acquired cartoons that is best remembered for a lost English dub of Peppa Pig. Since then, they've ceased all new attempts — that is, except for one.
In 2006, Cartoon Network’s U.K. counterpart introduced Cartoonito, a 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. block on their secondary channel Cartoon Network Too, airing series such as Baby Looney Tunes, Barney and Friends, Firehouse Tales, Hi-5, and Pororo the Little Penguin.
The year following Cartoonito’s launch, the block would be expanded into its own standalone channel, replacing Cartoon Network Too (which subsequently replaced the UK feed of Toonami). In this new format, Cartoonito aired from 3 a.m. to 7 p.m., sharing its slot with Turner Classic Movies 2 (a spin-off of the main Turner Classic Movies channel); it would later shift its programming to air between 4 a.m. and 9 p.m. beginning in 2010.
In 2011, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced a global roll-out of Cartoonito across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. A Cartoonito-branded block would air on Cartoon Network’s Middle Eastern feed, as well as on the European and African versions of Boomerang. Additionally, two new series — the Spanish-produced Jelly Jamm and a CGI reboot of the Australian series Bananas in Pyjamas — were added to Cartoonito’s programming.
That same year, Cartoonito-branded channels were launched in August for Italy and in September for Spain. December 2012 saw the debut of another channel, this time for Southeast Asia. The Spanish feed closed along with Cartoon Network in June 2013, while the Asian feed ceased its broadcast in January 2015.
Cartoonito’s EMEA blocks came to an end in early 2014, though Cartoon Network Arabia would relaunch theirs in 2019, this time with a visual style distinct from the main brand. Cartoon Network Turkey would launch a localized Cartoonito block in the same year, airing in the afternoon as opposed to weekday mornings.
As of now, those two blocks — along with the UK and Italian channels — comprise Cartoonito's current reach. Said channels rebranded in late 2017 and early 2018 respectively, after using the same visual style since the brand’s inception in 2006.
