Now that Streaming isnt doing so hot... Broadcast Cartoons for kids? (THAT ISNT PBS KIDS)

[Looney Turtles]

Indeed. MeTV showed "Bushy Hare" (1950), a Bugs Bunny short that prior had last aired on Nickelodeon due to the stereotypical "Nature Boy". Of course, Cartoon Network was to air it as part of the 2001 "June Bugs" marathon, but of course it became one of the twelve Bugs cartoons to be pulled from the marathon due to un-PC content.
MeTV has also shown "Senorella and the Glass Huarache," a cartoon that I don't think aired on CN or Boomerang in the USA at all (but has played on Nickelodeon quite a few times in the 90s) due to the Mexican caricatures.
A similar case is that MeTV also showed "Norman Normal," another cartoon that never aired on CN or Boomerang in the USA, but for a different reason: it was geared towards more mature audiences, and thus is wildly out of place with the rest of the Looney Tunes fare that's often marketed towards kids and family audiences. Nick at Nite showed it a few times during their Looney Tunes block (because of course, Nick at Nite was geared towards older viewers). This is why the cartoon became incredibly rare between its' original theatrical run in 1968 and being released on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6" DVD set forty years later.

"Bushy Hare" actually did air once on Boomerang in 2016 or 2017. Back when the channel occasionally showed other shorts outside of their regular rotation. I remember being quite surprised when I seen it air on Boomerang.

 

[wiley207]

"Bushy Hare" actually did air once on Boomerang in 2016 or 2017. Back when the channel occasionally showed other shorts outside of their regular rotation. I remember being quite surprised when I seen it air on Boomerang.

I remember that. I think someone at Boomerang had been hacking the system to start showing Looney Tunes cartoons outside of the regular rotation, including some rare ones, but then someone at management would catch on and revert it back to normal.

 

[Looney Turtles]

I remember that. I think someone at Boomerang had been hacking the system to start showing Looney Tunes cartoons outside of the regular rotation, including some rare ones, but then someone at management would catch on and revert it back to normal.

Yeah, that's most likely the case, since they were even airing some Speedy Gonzales shorts at the time too.

 

[Petran Markou]

Sure, but what parent would actually do that? Anyone who has ever lived with a child knows that you need to have something around to distract them in order to get anything done. Personally, I don't know anyone who has no home entertainment of any kind, and with so many options, there's no reason for anyone to live like that unless they choose to. In any case, the number of households that are stuck in the Stone Age without cable or internet are of no interest to networks because they want to attract paying consumers and those aforementioned households couldn't afford to buy stuff beyond necessities.

Heck, you can still borrow DVDs from the library and that's free. For that matter, public libraries offer free internet access, so there's no real reason for anyone to live in a log cabin these days, again unless it's by personal choice.

Piracy is also an easy option nowadays

Most popular choice is YouTube especially since it is free and it hosts a lot of old copyright kids content no one bothers to report.

Also illegal streaming sites have hundreds of animated streaming series, both old and new


but to me the most important is the retroscene.
For old content in fact there is a scene where owners of rare VHS tapes or TV recordings try to mix the audio with dvd/bd quality. Their work is praiseworthy because in many cases no one bothers with such old content officially and the original source may be lost or stuck in some warehouse. Old English cartoons, despite the language popularity, have an issue with availability.

 

[aegisrawks]

Rumors are circulating that Me TV's owner will make a broadcast diginet ALL AIMED AT ANIMATION. WOW. I hope the rumors are true.

 

[Moe]

Rumors are circulating that Me TV's owner will make a broadcast diginet ALL AIMED AT ANIMATION. WOW. I hope the rumors are true.

Where? Weigel would have to follow a rule to limit on advertising when air animated shows.

It means most animated shows wouldn't see cut to make a room for more advertising.

 

[aegisrawks]

Where? Weigel would have to follow a rule to limit on advertising when air animated shows.

It means most animated shows wouldn't see cut to make a room for more advertising.

I know. But if the channel is aimed at adults, adult commercial laws apply. Sure I did this in the kids thread. But I was too afraid to make a new thread so I just used this one. I think it will be a broadcast diginet aimed at adults who love animation.

 

[Moe]

But if the channel is aimed at adults, adult commercial laws apply.

Yes but they would need a separate block to have full advertising applies.

If MeTV Toon or Toon Central - 6 am to 10 pm - kid shows and 10 pm to 6 am - adult animated shows (based on safe harbor hours).

 

[CassieTheDragon]

I'm gonna be 100% honest, broadcast cartoons are all but dead in this day and age. This is gonna sound a bit insane to some people, but i'm 100% expecting Nick, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel to shut down their cable feeds by 2030 (or at the very latest, 2035). Hell, most Disney Channel international stations ("international" as in, outside the US) ceased operations years ago. It's a miracle the US feed is still operating at this point. Cable is dying rapidly, and there's no way that these stations are still making a profit, or at least enough of a profit to justify their existence. Back in the 2000s these channels were at their peak and would see big Nielsen numbers (4.0+) for many of their cartoons. Now they'll be lucky if a cartoon episode gets even half a million viewers. The latest premieres of the new SpongeBob episodes have like 0.1 and 0.2 ratings. That's literally so bad.

Even PBS Kids is a far, far cry from what it used to be. Back around the mid-late 90s and 2000s, Arthur (96' - rating 5.9 circa 2004), Clifford The Big Red Dog (00' - rating 7.2 circa 2004), Barney (92' - rating 5.4 circa 2004), Sesame Street (69' - rating 5.0 circa 2004) and Dragon Tales (99' - rating 7.9 circa 2004) did massive numbers. The last show actually reached 11 million weekly viewers in 2003, which is outlandishly high even for cartoon channels. I couldn't even imagine having a cartoon do that well in even 2014, let alone 2024.

I think PBS will probably be here for a much longer period than CN, Nick or Disney, despite their lower viewership compared to the 2000s.

 

[Moe]

i'm 100% expecting Nick, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel to shut down their cable feeds by 2030 (or at the very latest, 2035). Hell, most Disney Channel international stations ("international" as in, outside the US) ceased operations years ago. It's a miracle the US feed is still operating at this point. Cable is dying rapidly, and there's no way that these stations are still making a profit, or at least enough of a profit to justify their existence.

The numbers of cable subscribers drop to late 1980s now and cable companies are still making money with endless price hikes and bloated fees. Cable networks are cut the length of shows and/or speed up to make a room for more advertising, especially let look at TBS did to their shows. The cut and speed up are rare in children shows due to limit on advertising under CTA law.

As for cable TV to become unprofitable, the numbers of subscribers would need to drop to 1970s level or early 1980s, so cable companies would no longer rely on price hikes because they will put cable TV out of business sooner and they may end up to ask networks to lower the carriage cost and remove multiple channels, and ask local TV stations to lower the retransmission cost or local stations are risky to be not carried anymore. That is going to make 1984 Cable TV, 1992 Cable TV and 1996 Telecommunications Act as no longer relevant, so FCC would have to revert back to old regulation that where cable companies are forced to carry all local stations for viewers who are unable to receive local channels over the air, so cable companies see this as no big deal, unlike in 1980s.

If cable TV isn't die, so they would go back to original that where cable TV is provided if people are unable to receive local channels with antenna, especially in my city. ATSC 3.0 has advanced technology to enable numbers of digital subchannels and FAST channels can be run as digital subchannels.

Yes, Nick, Disney and CN channels are likely to close when cable companies ask networks to cut, but networks may opt to make those channels free with rely on ads money or converted to FAST channels that can be continue to carry on cable at no charge. Networks may help to pay for operation (run the channel on cable). Future of Nick, Disney and CN channels are uncertain to me and I don't know about whichever scenario would end up.

I think PBS will probably be here for a much longer period than CN, Nick or Disney, despite their lower viewership compared to the 2000s.

Yeah, very likely for sure unless PBS don't receive enough donation and federal/states cut all funding for PBS to continue the operation. Some major studios may opt to donate or fund the PBS as exchange for generous tax breaks, and they can send E/I preschool shows to PBS to air on their channel.

 

[Goldstar!]

Rumors are circulating that Me TV's owner will make a broadcast diginet ALL AIMED AT ANIMATION.

I know. But if the channel is aimed at adults, adult commercial laws apply.

An OTA all animation channel aimed solely at adults would never work. That's way too niche an audience for that to last longer than a year or 2, and it's sure not going to happen on a broadcast network. The networks bowed out of the cartoon game a long time ago. That could work as a program block, but not an entire channel.

Here's the thing, guys; figuratively speaking, streaming is still a toddler. Studios may be stumbling right now trying to figure everything out, but people aren't flocking back to cable or to the broadcast networks. Cable TV is pricing itself into nonexistence. Nobody wants to pay those ridiculously high monthly fees anymore, but at the same time, we're not seeing an upsurge of network television nor OTA TV. We're slowly moving to the point where the internet and streaming will be the only options avilable.

Piracy is also an easy option nowadays

No, it isn't. There are a number of reasons why the above isn't true. Amongst them, companies (YouTube included) are starting to crack down on pirate sites and programs. Plus, you run a serious risk by pirating programs. You think you're getting the latest season of a TV show or a big budgeted movie, but then it turns out to be 3 viruses in a trench coat. And since you've downloaded it illegally, there's no customer service for you to complain to, nor is there a tech support to help you out.

Seriously, though, I'm just some rando on the internet whose opinion doesn't carry the weight of sunlight.I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. Personally, I'm just going to pay to watch cartoons legally, but you do you.

 

[Moe]

An OTA all animation channel aimed solely at adults would never work. That's way too niche an audience for that to last longer than a year or 2, and it's sure not going to happen on a broadcast network. The networks bowed out of the cartoon game a long time ago. That could work as a program block, but not an entire channel.

Here's the thing, guys; figuratively speaking, streaming is still a toddler. Studios may be stumbling right now trying to figure everything out, but people aren't flocking back to cable or to the broadcast networks. Cable TV is pricing itself into nonexistence. Nobody wants to pay those ridiculously high monthly fees anymore, but at the same time, we're not seeing an upsurge of network television nor OTA TV. We're slowly moving to the point where the internet and streaming will be the only options avilable.

I agree, this is make sense and yeah, streaming isn't doom, They are new and take more than decade to have full experience. The cable TV was struggle in 1970s and 1980s but became mature in 1990s.

I doubt that we will see 24/7 toon channel but WBD could send Boomerang to digital subchannel and hire Weigel to handle with operation and schedule like they did with Dabl that Weigel turned into old UPN. Weigel would have to find someone to have experience with CTA and follow the ads restriction.

I do think OTA TV would be around for long time and we rely on it for weather and news.

No, it isn't. There are a number of reasons why the above isn't true. Amongst them, companies (YouTube included) are starting to crack down on pirate sites and programs. Plus, you run a serious risk by pirating programs. You think you're getting the latest season of a TV show or a big budgeted movie, but then it turns out to be 3 viruses in a trench coat. And since you've downloaded it illegally, there's no customer service for you to complain to, nor is there a tech support to help you out.

It is frown to discuss about piracy in this forum and one of member you quoted shouldn't discuss at first place.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Yes, Nick, Disney and CN channels are likely to close when cable companies ask networks to cut, but networks may opt to make those channels free with rely on ads money or converted to FAST channels that can be continue to carry on cable at no charge. Networks may help to pay for operation (run the channel on cable). Future of Nick, Disney and CN channels are uncertain to me and I don't know about whichever scenario would end up.

You’re talking about Nick, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network becoming FAST channels once cable companies ask networks to cut?

 

[Goldstar!]

You’re talking about Nick, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network becoming FAST channels once cable companies ask networks to cut?

The only way that's going to happen is you remove the "F" part. We're never going to get live feeds of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or Disney Channel for free. Original programming is too expensive for companies to give them away for nothing. That's just not realistic.

If cable TV dissolves for good (which won't be for a while), those channels will most likely become exclusive to streaming, but not as FAST services. Rather, they'll be exclusive to their parent company services (Paramount+, Disney+ and Max, respectively).

Even if FAST versions of Nick, Disney Channel and CN are launched, the paid versions of the channels will continue to exist in some form as long as studios are still producing new content for them.

 

[Moe]

You’re talking about Nick, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network becoming FAST channels once cable companies ask networks to cut?

New shows are going to end up on streaming services first and few years later, they move to linear channel/FAST and free ads supported streaming when shows age.

The only way that's going to happen is you remove the "F" part. We're never going to get live feeds of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or Disney Channel for free. Original programming is too expensive for companies to give them away for nothing. That's just not realistic.

If cable TV dissolves for good (which won't be for a while), those channels will most likely become exclusive to streaming, but not as FAST services. Rather, they'll be exclusive to their parent company services (Paramount+, Disney+ and Max, respectively).

Even if FAST versions of Nick, Disney Channel and CN are launched, the paid versions of the channels will continue to exist in some form as long as studios are still producing new content for them.

That isn't what I'm saying about future of cable TV.

I'm saying when cable TV declines to low enough, so networks could ultimately decide to make those channels free to air with ads revenues, but there is a catch, no more new shows as they will premiere on streaming first and 3-5 years later, they start air on linear channels. Unpopular shows could be sent to linear channels sooner. The schedule with linear channels would be old shows.

Nothing in my post saying about new shows on linear channels when they become less value and studios need to premiere on paid service to make money to cover on cost of making shows.

Carriage cost for CN, Nick and Disney Channel are dirty cheap per subscriber like around $1 per month, per subscriber for Disney Channel since it is $8 per months for ads supported Disney+. The carriage cost for cable channels become unsustainable after more subscribers leaving, so networks have option to remedy the problem is make those free access to offered to various services run the FAST to have more viewers = more are better for ads. If network consider changes, so no more new shows as they will be exclusive on paid streaming services.

 

[Goldstar!]

^I was responding to @Elija Abrams, not to you. He seems to want live feeds of Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon to be offered to customers free of charge.

 

[Moe]

^I was responding to @Elija Abrams, not to you.

Alright, I thought you disagreed with me that lead me to clarified my statement.

By the way, I agreed with you about new shows aren't going to premiere on FAST first and I know that isn't economical.