Teletoon Retro

For the French-language version of this channel, see Télétoon Rétro.
Teletoon Retro

Final logo 2013-2015
Launched October 1, 2007 (2007-10-01)
Closed September 1, 2015 (2015-09-01)
Owned by Corus Entertainment
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan Forever Fun
Country Canada
Language English
Broadcast area National
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Replaced by Disney Channel and Cartoon Network
Sister channel(s)

Teletoon Retro was a Canadian English-language Category B specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. A sister network to Teletoon, it was dedicated to broadcasting classic animated television programs.

Along with Télétoon Rétro, it was available in over 9 million Canadian households as of 2013; together they 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 network's channel allotments and CRTC license.

History

Teletoon Retro began 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 with its 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 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). 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 Teletoon Retro was launched. It was only available on Cogeco and Bell Fibe TV.

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] While not a direct replacement on some television 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]

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;[2] as such, it also aired several live-action series, such as Batman, Fraggle Rock, and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

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). 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. 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. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Corus ownership chart" (PDF). CRTC. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
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