Boomerang was launched in English for the Middle East and select African countries in March 2005.[1] On 5 June, the channel expanded to Europe, with audio tracks for Polish (though partial) and Hungarian viewers.[2] December saw the addition of a Greek audio track.
On 1 August 2007, the channel began broadcasting from the Astra 1K and Hot Bird 7A satellites in CIS and Baltic countries.[3] Select programs were also available in Russian.[4]
An Arabic audio track and a complete Polish audio track became available in 2008.[2] In January 2010, Boomerang expanded to Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro, bringing its total distribution to 9.5 million homes.[5]
The channel's African website, BoomerangTVAfrica.com, launched in 2010.[6] On 12 October 2011, a dedicated Central and Eastern European feed was launched, serving Poland, Hungary, and Romania and featuring audio tracks for each respective country along with English. Preschool brand Cartoonito joined both feeds as a morning and afternoon block. Despite the split, Boomerang continued to air in several European countries (such as Portugal and the Netherlands) until 2015.
History
As Boomerang (2016–2023)
Boomerang logo, 2015–2023
On 14 January 2015, the channel adopted the global rebrand and renamed itself as Boomerang Africa.[7] On 1 July 2016, Boomerang MENA – an official feed for the Arab world, launched to replace the African feed on the region's TV providers,[8] as well as in Greece and Cyprus. The HD channel carries a separate schedule and set of censorship rules, with three audio tracks: English, Arabic, and Greek. Boomerang Africa switched to 16:9 widescreen on 21 September 2016. On 4 March 2019, it began broadcasting in HD.
As Cartoonito (2023–present)
In Africa, Cartoonito was launched as a daily morning (formerly morning and afternoon) block beginning on 12 October 2011. The original block ended on 1 January 2014, but later returned on 4 April 2022, as part of the May 2021 relaunch.[9][10] On 8 February 2023, it was announced that Cartoonito would expand into a full-time channel in Boomerang's place on 25 March.[11]
On 22 June 2023, the broadcasters announced that Boomerang in the MENA would rebrand to Cartoonito on 4 September 2023, along with its Turkey and Nordic counterpart.[12][13]
Boing is a television channel that airs repeats of programs formerly seen on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It launched on 30 May 2015, as the fourth extension of Turner's larger Boing brand.
Toonami
Toonami is a television channel catered towards young adults consisting of DC animation from Batman, Superman and Young Justice. It launched in 2017 on Kwesé TV until the platform went defunct in 2019. Then it was made available on Cell C's defunct streaming service Black for that same year.
In March 2020, the channel was revived as a 2 month pop-up channel on DStv and GOtv thereafter it was made available full-time on the StarTimes platform after its closure. As of March 2021, Toonami can also be found on Canal+, Intelvision, Azam TV and Zuku TV.
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