Cartoon Network Arabic
 | |
| Country | United Arab Emirates Egypt Saudi Arabia Qatar |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Middle East and North East Africa (excluding Iran, Turkey and Cyprus) |
| Headquarters |
|
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Arabic |
| Picture format | 4:3 (576i SDTV) (2010–2014) 16:9 (576i SDTV) (2014–present) |
| Timeshift service | Cartoon Network Arabic +2 (defunct as of 2016) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | WarnerMedia International beIN Media Group |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | 10 October 2010 |
| Links | |
| Website | Official website MENA language website (English and Arabic) |
Cartoon Network Arabic (Arabic: كرتون نتورك بالعربية) is a television channel that is broadcast to children in the Middle East and North Africa, and it is the Arabic version of Cartoon Network. The channel was launched on October 10, 2010 at 10:10 AM U.A.E. time.[1][2] The channel's launch goes with the opening of Turner Broadcasting System's new offices in Dubai Media City, U.A.E., the channel's local owner.[3] It is a Middle Eastern branch of Time Warner.
The standard channel broadcasts via Arabsat Arabsat-4,Badr 6 and Nilesat. Cartoon Network Arabic is a free alternative to Cartoon Network MENA and Boomerang (EMEA), two pay TV channels offered in the Arab World in HD and in both English and Arabic exclusively on beIN Network since July 1, 2016, despite the varying differences in programming, schedules, and available languages.
In December 2015, Turner Broadcasting System entered an exclusivity deal with the Qatar-based beIN Media Group.[4] This deal lead to Cartoon Network Africa, Boomerang Africa, and TCM moving from OSN to the latter's beIN Network service, and also caused the HD feed on YahLive to shut down; the actual channel, however, is unaffected due to being a free-to-air channel on Nilesat and Arabsat/Badr.
History
[change | change source]Cartoon Network Arabic was launched on 10 October 2010 at 10:10 am GST. The channel's launch coincided with the opening of Turner Broadcasting System's offices in Dubai Media City, UAE, which is where the channel's local owner is located.[5]
On 4 April 2014 at 4 pm KSA time the channel aired a controversial scene in an episode of the television series Young Justice, which depicted the characters Superboy and Miss Martian sharing a kiss on the lips, with another character Icicle Jr. saying "Man, that's your sister." then stuttering and saying "Oh, dad’s going to kill me." This scene angered and alarmed families in the MENA region as their strong Islamic beliefs forbid scenes such as this that displays implied incestuous themes despite the two characters on the show not being siblings, but were using that as an alibi to get through a prison full criminals. This led to many Islamic scholars warning parents and families to not allow children to watch the channel.
The channel subsequently apologised about the scene a few days after it was aired, calling it a "mistake." However, this incident had subsequently led to the channel's former president to lose his job and be replaced by Tarek Mounir. The channel had been guilty for broadcasting these kinds of scenes before. Since its launch in October 2010, there had been several scenes displaying kissing, awkward angles on women, and other elements that don't align with Islamic values which spread all over social media platforms. Prior to the Young Justice scene, the Channel was in control of kids television in the MENA region since its launch in 2010 and is said that it played a huge part in eliminating competitor Nickelodeon Arabia and causing its closure in 2011, as well as dominating other competitors that Include MBC 3, Spacetoon, Aljazeera Children's Channel (Now Jeem TV) and Baraem who were controlling the kids Television scene in MENA prior to the channel’s launch.
The channel was also praised for its organised timetable of airing shows, order of episodes airing and continuous airing of series that were almost instantly adored by its audience. However this controversy led to the channel implemnting a censorship strategy that had ended up killing the channel as many episodes of series such as The Amazing World of Gumball and Adventure Time were censored and many episodes were not even dubbed and the plot had become confusing for viewers. On top of that television series such as Powerpuff Girls (1998) were cancelled due to violent scenes.
All this led to a drastic decrease in views for the channel which ended up with the channel becoming the second Cartoon Network channel in the MENA region as Cartoon Network MENA was launched on July 2016 which airs in both English and Arabic and is up to date to the parent channel in regards of new series and episodes whilst if Cartoon Network Arabia were to even air those new series or episodes it would be 3-6 months later than its sister channels.
The channel changed its aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 on 5 October 2014; it also began using the Check it 3.0 branding on that day.
Cartoon Network Arabic has changed its website. The new website was changed in May 2015.
On 4 October 2017, the channel has fully rebranded to the Dimensional branding.
In December 2015, Turner Broadcasting System entered an exclusivity deal with the Qatar-based beIN Media Group. This deal led to Cartoon Network Africa, Boomerang Africa, and TCM moving from OSN to the latter's beIN Network service, and also caused the HD feed on YahLive to shut down; the actual channel, however, is unaffected due to being a free-to-air channel on Nilesat and Arabsat/Badr. Cartoon Network Arabic was added to beIN as channel 138 as an HD channel, although the HD version was later replaced with the SD version on Arabsat/Badr. CNN International HD was removed from My-HD's channel list and moved to beIN as an encrypted HD channel along with the pay-only HLN, which is in letterboxed SD, but CNN continues to remain available as a free-to-air channel on Nilesat and Arabsat/Badr in SD. However, subscribers to Etisalat and du's IPTV services in the UAE were virtually unaffected at the time. However, due to their direct relations with Turner, UAE Telecoms, Etisalat and Du continue to offer these channels to IPTV subscribers. Additionally, inVision in Saudi Arabia, Ooredoo in Qatar and Cablevision in Lebanon offer Cartoon Network and Boomerang as well.
On 17 March 2023, a Facebook user named Chahine Arfaoui posted a video of the channel getting hijacked and playing an unofficial animation of Roddy Ricch's Ballin. The video went viral on YouTube, before it was revealed to be a hoax.
Programming
[change | change source]The channel mainly airs animated cartoons from Cartoon Network Studios. Original productions are produced and aired, along with movies, shorts, live-action series, and shows, movies, dubbed in Arabic from various other studios.
TV series
[change | change source]Animated programs aired include original Cartoon Network Studios productions like the Regular Show, Uncle Grandpa, Adventure Time, and We Bare Bears.
Currently, the channel is only available in Arabic, with no choice to switch to English or any other languages. This is because the channel uses prints that are distributed by the respective shows' Arabic dubbing studios. The channel broadcasts a line of Cartoon Network's own shows dubbed from English. Cartoon Network Arabic may also offer other localized shows, such as the Arabic Ben 10: Ultimate.
Challenge, which are the result of various partnership deals with Arab production companies, such as the Dubai-based Lammtara Pictures (Freej) or the Jordan-based Rubicon Group Holding (Ben & Izzy, Tareq Wa Shireen). Since the channel is a free-to-air channel in the Arab World, it often edits certain programs for content, cutting out certain scenes from them.
Movies
[change | change source]Starting from November 5, 2011 Cartoon Network Arabic began to occasionally air a selection of dubbed Cartoon Network made-for-TV movies and specials at random dates. However, it was not until January 2013 the channel added the Cartoon Network Cinema block to represent its movies.
Programming blocks
[change | change source]Cartoonito
[change | change source]Turner Broadcasting System Europe added the channel to 125 million homes in 112 territories across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.[6] In Arabic, Cartoonito was launched as a morning block that is broadcast for seven days a week, starting from September 4, 2011.
Cartoon Network Arabic HD
[change | change source]On March 2012, the channel became available in true High-definition via video at YahLive service.[7] This channel was shut down in 2016 due to the Turner-beIN deal.
Cartoon Network Arabic +2
[change | change source]A two-hour timeshift channel variant launched on June 30, 2014 via the My HD pay TV network. It was terminated on January 2016 as a consequence of Turner Broadcasting System's deal with beIN Media Group.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "Cartoon Network Arabic free-to-air goes live on October 10th". Zawya. 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ↑ "Cartoon Network Arabic launches". Digital Production Middle East. 2010-10-10. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ↑ "10 October launch for Cartoon Network Arabic". Rapid TV News. 2010-10-07. Archived from the original on 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ↑ "Turner and beIN Media Group Announce Strategic Partnership Exclusively for the Middle East & North Africa Region". beIN Media Group. 2015-12-29. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
- ↑ "Turner and beIN Media Group Announce Strategic Partnership Exclusively for the Middle East & North Africa Region - beIN EN". 2015-12-29. Retrieved 2026-03-20.
- ↑ "Turner Broadcasting to launch Cartoonito across EMEA". AMEinfo. 2011-04-21. Archived from the original on 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
- ↑ Saundalka, Jason (2012-03-05). "Cartoon Network Arabic goes HD". Digital Production Middle East. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
Other websites
[change | change source]- Official website (in Arabic)