Boomerang

Boomerang (formerly referred to as Boomerang from Cartoon Network) is an American cable television network and streaming service owned by the Kids, Young Adults and Classics division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia.

Boomerang debuted as a programming block on Cartoon Network introduced in 1992, focusing on classic cartoons from the WB library (including Warner Bros. Cartoons and Hanna-Barbera productions, among many others), and eventually grew into its own separate channel devoted to such content in 2000. Since a rebranding in 2015 (which aimed to promote Boomerang as a "second flagship" brand alongside Cartoon Network), Boomerang began to air original programming, focusing primarily on reboots of popular legacy franchises such as Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo. The network's drift towards modern content has also seen it carry reruns of current or recent Cartoon Network series. In 2017, Boomerang launched an over-the-top subscription service focusing on classic cartoons.

History
Boomerang originated as a programming block on Cartoon Network that debuted on December 8, 1992. It was aimed towards the generation of baby boomers and was similar to the Vault Disney nostalgia block that would debut five years later on the Disney Channel. It originally aired for four hours every weekend, but the block's start time had changed frequently. The Saturday block moved to Saturday afternoons, then back to the early morning, and the Sunday block moved to Sunday evenings. Eventually, Boomerang was shortened by an hour, reducing it from four hours to three each weekend. Turner Broadcasting System eventually converted Boomerang into a standalone cable channel that debuted on April 1, 2000. The Cartoon Network block continued to run under the new Boomerang channel branding until October 3, 2004. Boomerang (both the programming block and the original spinoff channel that launched on April 1, 2000) followed a unique programming format—every week, cartoons produced during a certain year (and cartoons produced during years prior to that year) would be showcased. For example, if Boomerang was showcasing the year 1969, the viewer would more than likely see an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! or Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.

Once the Boomerang channel launched, promos for it aired at the end of every show during the block, in an attempt to draw more viewers. All of Cartoon Network's older programming (including Looney Tunes and shows from Hanna-Barbera migrated to Boomerang) would migrate to Boomerang upon its rebrand in 2004.

On October 2 and October 3, 2004, nearly four months after the re-launch of the Cartoon Network, the Boomerang block was replaced by Adult Swim with older reruns of classic anthologies like The Popeye Show, The Bob Clampett Show and ToonHeads, former Boomerang fare like The Gary Coleman Show and The Super Globetrotters. October 2nd and 3rd were the last times Looney Tunes officially aired on Cartoon Network. Duck Dodgers, Cow and Chicken, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, What a Cartoon, Snorks, The Smurfs (Hanna-Barbera series) and Baby Looney Tunes were featured on the channel, although much of the Looney Tunes programming had gradually vanished. They are still seen from time to time. The channel initially carried a weekly looping programming format. Notably, Boomerang did not carry product commercials. Up until 2013, the only advertising on the channel was for Boomerang or Cartoon Network programming.

During its looping format, which lasted through January 17, 2005, program days began at 8 a.m. Eastern time (5 a.m. Pacific time). The looping format had 8 hours of programming repeated three times a day. Monday through Thursdays were just normal programming days, with a variety of half-hour and hour-long cartoon programs shown. On Fridays, "monthly feature" cartoons were shown for the entire day; one cartoon was featured for each Friday of a given month for 24 hours straight. As of January 22, 2005, this banner became known as "monthly character of the month", and is now shown on weekends from 2 to 4 p.m. eastern and as of March 2007, it was known as Boomeroyalty. On Saturdays, a calendar year was featured with the cartoons of that year (ranging from approximately 1960 to 1996, one year per week in sequence). Sundays carried the "Boomeraction" theme, with animation featuring action and adventure such as Valley of the Dinosaurs, Super Friends, Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, and Battle of the Planets. In recent years, Boomerang began airing shows from more recent times, such as Batman: The Animated Series, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, The Addams Family, and Pokémon. The first two Cartoon Network originals to air on Boomerang were Dexter's Laboratory and Mike, Lu &amp; Og.

Boomerang's promotional slogan, Boomerang: It's All Coming Back To You, used until late 2014 on Boomerang itself, was one of nostalgia that accurately reflected its programming of the time. This slogan was also used in promos airing on sister channel Cartoon Network.

The announcer for most of the network's current promos is Collin Dean (most notably the voice of Greg in Over the Garden Wall and the second voice of Lincoln Loud in Nickelodeon's The Loud House). Prior to this, it was Jeff Bergman, using a voice inspired by Don Messick’s narrator voice in several classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

On February 4, 2014, as part of Turner Broadcasting's 2014 upfronts, it was announced that Boomerang would become advertising-supported, seeking additional international distribution.

In October 2014, Cartoon Network unveiled a global rebranding for Boomerang, which first launched in Latin America in late September, and arrived in the United States on January 19, 2015. Alongside the previously-announced plan to introduce advertising, the network planned to introduce original programming for the first time, and place a particular focus on the archive's most well-known franchises with an explicitly family-friendly approach. Turner executives described the changes as being an effort to grow Boomerang into a "second flagship" on par with the main Cartoon Network channel.

Availability on subscription television
Boomerang is carried on few pay television providers; tiering of the channel varies by service, with some operators offering it as either a basic-tier or higher-tier network. Most providers do not carry the linear channel, instead offering the network's video on demand service bundled with Cartoon Network. On March 4, 2019, the channel changed its default ratio to 16:9, with 4:3 content being aired stretched and the screen bug moving away from the 4:3 area, similar to what Cartoon Network did in May 2013. As of January 2020, Boomerang has begun broadcasting in high definition on certain platforms including Hulu.

Programming
Historically, Boomerang avoided overt channel drift and, despite adding newer content to its library, continued to air programming from the breadth of its archives. By spring 2014, however, most of its archival programming was relegated to graveyard slots while the daytime schedule became dominated by programming from the 1990s and later. This policy underwent a partial reversal in April 2017, with a larger focus on shows from the 2010s, before older Cartoon Network series returned to Boomerang's schedule from January 2018 to May 2019, and again in half-hour time slots in September 2020. Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, The Smurfs, and various entries in the Scooby-Doo franchise have more or less had permanent places on the schedule since the rebrand, while previous network mainstays The Flintstones and The Jetsons returned in a late-night time slot in July 2018 before leaving the schedule again in November of that year.

Not all of WarnerMedia's animation library is exclusively available to Boomerang. A portion of that catalog which includes series produced in collaboration with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment (including Tiny Toon Adventures and most of Animaniacs), as well as most works involving Batman and Superman (such as the DC Animated Universe), is put out for license to other networks; those properties most recently aired on the Hub Network from late 2012 until its closure in October 2014. In addition, WarnerMedia's collection of Christmas specials — including the latter half of the Rankin/Bass Productions library — is licensed to AMC for their Best Christmas Ever block as of 2018; those specials previously aired on Freeform and its predecessors for nearly 20 years, as part of their 25 Days of Christmas lineup. In 2019, former channel fixture The Flintstones was licensed out to MeTV; MeTV signed an agreement to air more WarnerMedia content, including the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, Popeye and MGM theatrical shorts), beginning in 2021. Boomerang itself occasionally licenses programming from other distributors, such as with The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (which joined the lineup for a short run in August and September 2013) and with Garfield and Friends (which joined in September 2019).

Although Boomerang's programming philosophy was originally intended to showcase classic cartoons, newer shows have been added in recent years, some even before the rebrand. From January to December 2012, new episodes of the Italian animated series Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville aired on the channel. Wedgies, a series of animated interstitials that previously aired on Cartoon Network, were reintroduced in 2013. In December 2014, Boomerang added Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball to its lineup, alongside their airings on Cartoon Network; those shows left in April 2017. On June 28, 2015, it was announced that Boomerang would receive original programs such as New Looney Tunes, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, and an animated adaptation of Bunnicula. Throughout mid-2018, Boomerang added re-runs of modern Cartoon Network series to its lineup, including Regular Show, Mighty Magiswords, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe.

Similar to what Nickelodeon does with Nicktoons and TeenNick, Boomerang is used as a burn-off channel for new episodes of acquired series previously ordered for Cartoon Network that don't fit the latter's programming direction; Numb Chucks was picked up by Boomerang for first-run broadcast on January 10, 2015, while Grizzy and the Lemmings joined in April 2017 and My Knight and Me arrived in June of the same year. The channel has also aired unadvertised, first-run episodes of Cartoon Network series before their initial debut (such as with Johnny Test and Ben 10: Omniverse), and also simulcasts programs with its parent service for cross-promotional purposes; instances of this include the preschool-oriented block Tickle-U and the 48-hour premiere of Summer Camp Island in July 2018.

Programming blocks
Because of Boomerang's fluid schedule, programming blocks will air for a few months, then be removed from the schedule, only to be added again a few months later.

Current
Boomerang Theater – Boomerang's movie showcase block; it is shown at varying times. However, It originally aired on weekend mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern, with the end time varying depending on the telecasted film's length. As of 2021, the block has aired every night from 6-8 pm. It is the only block from before the 2015 rebrand that still airs on the channel.

Former
Boomeraction – One of the first blocks to air on Boomerang, its programming focused on action-adventure shows including Thundarr the Barbarian, Teen Titans, Samurai Jack, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, The Pirates of Dark Water, Super Friends, Jonny Quest, The Secret Saturdays, Ben 10 and Ben 10: Omniverse. It was also one of the only Boomerang blocks to air across international feeds, including the United Kingdom, Latin America, and Australia versions of the network. The block was removed by June 2, 2014, as all programming from the block left the schedule.

Boomerandom – This block aired each weekend from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time from 2008 to 2010, and featured two hours of episodes of a single program. The selected programs were picked by the "Boomerandom drawing machine".

Boomerang Zoo – This one-hour block featured pre-1970 Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros television shorts, culled mainly from the H–B funny animal series (such as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Atom Ant, Magilla Gorilla, Snagglepuss, Wally Gator, and Pixie & Dixie and Mr. Jinks). It was the only block to air on both the American and European versions of the channel after the 2004 rebranding of Boomerang Europe. The block was discontinued around 2012, although the block's bumpers continued to air with Yogi Bear until that show left the schedule in June 2014.

Boomerock – This block, which aired in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Flintstones in 2010, consisted of a marathon of the classic animated series.

Boomeroyalty – This weekend mini-marathon of shows focuses on a particular character that changes every month, similar to the former Super Chunk block on sister network Cartoon Network. The block ended in 2012, but bumpers for it occasionally resurfaced during airings of other shows until 2014.

Scooberang – This continuous block featured every episode of each Scooby-Doo series (which were aired in chronological order), beginning with Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. It also aired some feature-length Scooby-Doo movies, including Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. "Scooberang" no longer airs on Boomerang. However, various series iterations of the Scooby-Doo franchise air on the channel several times daily.

Boomerween (conjectural title) – This block airs during the month of October, and includes Halloween-themed programs such as Scooby-Doo, Casper, The Addams Family (in its live-action as well as animated incarnations), Beetlejuice and The Munsters. This is notably the only time that Boomerang airs any live-action programming, particularly as The Addams Family and The Munsters have aired on the channel each October since 2011. The Halloween programming replaced the annual Scooberang block in 2011.

Captain Planet Earth Day Marathon – In observance of Earth Day, Boomerang aired a marathon of the animated series (which was produced by Turner Program Services).

Mother's Day – A marathon observance by Boomerang, on the holiday, the channel airs cartoons featuring mothers, such as Jane Jetson-focused episodes of The Jetsons, and Wilma Flintstone-focused episodes of The Flintstones.

Those Meddling Kids! – This 90-minute block featured series produced by Hanna-Barbera and/or Ruby-Spears, all of which follow the formula of a group of mystery-solving teenagers or young adults (such as Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, Fangface, Clue Club and Speed Buggy).

The Boomerang Christmas Party – This block, which aired each December until 2014, featured a collection of Hanna-Barbera Christmas specials (such as The Powerpuff Girls: Twas the Fight Before Christmas, Yogi's First Christmas, Christmas Comes to Pac-Land, Casper's First Christmas, The Jetsons' First Christmas and The Flintstones' Christmas).

Boomerang On Demand
Boomerang On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service, offering select episodes of the channel's archived programming, along with select archived Cartoon Network original programs. Launched in 2005, it is available on select digital cable, satellite and IPTV providers. In April 2013, Boomerang On Demand began to separate program content by "theme" (for example, in observance of Mother's Day, the service featured episodes of The Flintstones and Dexter's Laboratory featuring the characters of Dexter's mom and Wilma Flintstone).

International
Boomerang, originally established as a cable channel in the United States, has expanded worldwide. Each of these networks will be aligned globally in 2014 under one unified branding to reflect a family co-viewing network.

Australia
An Australian version of Boomerang was launched in March 2004 as part of the launch of Foxtel's digital service, with a lineup very similar to that of the U.K. version. It began as a four-hour block of programs in 2001, when the Australian version of Cartoon Network began broadcasting on a 24-hour schedule. It previously used the logo and break format of the flagship American service. However, in November 2007, the channel revamped both its logo and promotions as well as its website, boomerangtvshow.com. However, it uses the same bumpers as the U.S. channel. On December 1, 2012, the channel introduced a new on-air look with the same logo and appearance as the European channels.

Southeast Asia
The Southeast Asian version of Boomerang was launched on September 1, 2005. It began as a 90-minute block of programs in 2001, when the Asian version of Cartoon Network began broadcasting on a 24-hour schedule. It previously used the American logo and style of commercial breaks. It previously used the logo and break format of the flagship American service. However, in November 2007, the channel revamped both its logo and promotions. In December 2012, the channel was replaced by Toonami. Boomerang relaunched in Asia on January 1, 2015, with a new look and as part of the Boomerang's global rebrand for 2015. The channel replaced the Cartoonito Asian feed.

This channel is available in Hong Kong, the selected ASEAN member neighbor countries and Sri Lanka. The 24-hour channel in India was only available on Dish TV exclusively along with Turner Classic Movies until March 2, 2009. It is currently only available on IN Digital Cable from the Hinduja Group in Mumbai and the National Capital Region. In Pakistan, it ran as a two-hour block but was replaced with Pogo due to poor ratings. In Indonesia, it is available on Indovision, Aora TV, and TelkomVision.

Thailand
The Thailand version of Boomerang was launched on August 14, 2013. Similar to Southeast Asia, it is part of the Boomerang Europe franchise.

United Kingdom & Ireland
Boomerang launched in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom on May 27, 2000. It broadcasts 24 hours a day on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, and Chorus Digital. This version of the channel also features other animated series such as Mr. Bean and Gadget Boy. In late July 2007, Boomerang UK started carrying live-action programs, including those exclusive to the channel such as My Spy Family and the Canadian series The Latest Buzz.

Germany
Boomerang launched in Germany in June 2006; it is available on Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW, and Unity Media.

Scandinavia
In late 2005, Turner Broadcasting announced its intention to launch several new channels in the Nordic region (to join its then-current channels Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network and CNN International). One of the planned new channels was Boomerang, for which Turner applied for a broadcast license to operate on Swedish digital terrestrial television in the fall of 2005.

Spain
Boomerang launched a Spanish version of the channel in 2004. It was available on the Digital+ digital platform and on the Auna cable platform. It was introduced as a part of Cartoon Network's schedule on weekend afternoons.

The channel's programming strongly resembled that of the UK version. It relied heavily in older Warner Bros., MGM, and Hanna-Barbera cartoons, but it also included fairly recent programs featuring older characters, like Baby Looney Tunes and Duck Dodgers. It also featured other classic cartoons, like the Japanese Heidi and Spanish La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog (Around the World with Willy Fog).

On September 1, 2011, it was replaced by Cartoonito, which itself ceased operations on June 30, 2013, along with the Spanish version of Cartoon Network.

Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Central and Eastern Europe
Boomerang Europe, Middle East, and Africa launched in June 2005, originally broadcasting in Eastern Europe (in English), Poland (in Polish), and Hungary (only selected shows in Hungarian); it features mainly former Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera programs.

In October 2010, the channel started to broadcast select shows in Romanian. On October 12, 2011, the Central and Eastern Europe feed was separated from Europe, Middle East, and Africa; as a result, the former maintains its own schedule and promos in Hungarian and Romanian language as well as the preschool-targeted block Cartoonito, which was added to both feeds at the same time.

In February 2012, the channel began accepting commercial advertising outside of Poland, whose feed also accepts traditional advertising. From March 2012, Boomerang got a new look. In July 2013, the channel started to air select shows in Russian, in preparation for a possible launch of a separate feed for Russia.

In October 2013, a Russian feed was also added to the channel, thus making it to be broadcast now in four languages. In January 2014, the Cartoonito brand name was gone from the both CEE and EMEA channels, thus making those shows identifiable as Boomerang shows and the Boomerang next bumpers were rebranded. Starting from July 2014, Russia banned the ads from the network making the channel broadcasting no ads.

Latin America and Brazil
Boomerang Latin America was launched on July 2, 2001. On April 3, 2006, Boomerang Latin America was relaunched as a general entertainment children's channel, which incorporated featuring live-action programming and movies while retaining classic cartoons during late-night hours. On October 1, 2008, classic cartoons were dropped from the schedule, and Boomerang was refocused as a teen-oriented channel. In practice, the channel changed from a regional version of Boomerang USA to a version of Pogo, Cartoon Network's sister channel in India. Since April 1, 2014, the channel changed its schedule and focused its audience on children, deleting all live-action shows and putting animated programming.

On December 1, 2008, Tooncast was launched, a channel following the format of the international versions of Boomerang, airing both classic animation shows and shows formerly aired on Cartoon Network. However,

In February 2014, The Powerpuff Girls, Totally Spies, and Stoked were added, making Boomerang inclusive to animated programming again. In April, more animated programs either returned or joined the network, such as Looney Tunes, YooHoo and Friends, and Eliot Kid just to name a few.

On October 29, 2021, SKY Brasil reported that the Boomerang channel would be replaced by Cartoonito in said nation as on December 1.

On December 1, 2021, Boomerang ceased its broadcasts and was replaced by Cartoonito, after 20 years of broadcasts, Grizzy & the lemmings being its last program to be broadcast.

Others
Since 2005, Boomerang is also available via digital cable and satellite in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the Middle East, North Africa and the Levant territories, it broadcasts via satellite on the Orbit Showtime Network. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Boomerang is available on MultiChoice's DStv.