Cartoonito Is Coming!!! As Boomerang Is Set To Close Down In Central Eastern Europe By March 2023

Cartoonito is a brand name Warner Bros. Discovery gives to Cartoon Network's preschool offering since it's rollout in 2020. It has been well established in Europe and since then several original shows have been produced.

Notable shows include Batwheels, Bugs Bunny Builders, Little Ellen (scrapped) and upcoming shows like Tom And Jerry Time, Scooby-Doo And The Mystery Pups and Jessica's Big Little World.

As seen in various markets, Cartoonito operates as a linear channel and comes with programming blocks on Cartoon Network and Boomerang part of which has started gaining traction after news of another Boomerang closure came in.

Insidus Games:
- Tom And Jerry: Infurnal Escape
- Tom And Jerry: The Magic Ring
- The Wild Thornberrys Movie
- The Wild Thornberrys: Chimp Chase

Two years after Cartoonito rollout in Latin America, sources revealed that Boomerang in Central Eastern Europe will also be rebranding the channel to Cartoonito in March since then several shows such as Looney Tunes Cartoons had exited the schedule.

Of course, Boomerang in most EMEA regions had become a preschool hub even before Cartoonito with shows like Grizzy And The Lemmings, Masha And The Bear, Pat The Dog and in some shocking news Mr. Bean so it's possible that the feeds could remain for the time being.

Take one factor to account, the channel is out of content as their remaining shows such as Looney Tunes Cartoons and Tom And Jerry In New York have already been shelved while as Legend Of Spark and The Adventures Of Little Penguin are technically preschool.

Regular Nick:
- CBeebies picks up second season to Tish And Tash
- Best & Bester coming soon to Nicktoons
- We Baby Bears currently the only original program on Cartoon Network
- January on Cartoon Network and Boomerang

If anything, I'd expect more Boomerang channels to follow or at least ones identical to the EMEA feeds as we got some OGs that have yet to air not that we're behind on anything but it would make sense for the rebrand to happen once they launch.

I'd love to see Warner Bros. Discovery create a lot of hype and save up content for the Cartoonito channel but from the looks of the feed in EMEA even CEE you got to wonder how much content is being saved up ahead of its launch or not being used as a pawn.

SABC Parliament Has Been Scrapped For Upcoming DTT Channel, Might Be Added Onto Openview And DStv

During the week, the public broadcaster unveiled a promo where several of their anchors announced the launch of an influential news channel which will serve as a complimentary to SABC News covering Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa basically all 12 indigenous languages.

The channel is said to not offer English news bulletins or at least from what other places are showing as they're leaving that to the current SABC News channel carried exclusively onto MultiChoice's DStv and also available on their DTT platform.

As discussed, no name had been shared for the channel as it gears up for an early 2023 release on DTT platforms.

SABC:
- Reviewing major changes coming soon to the SABC
- TelkomOne's transition into SABC+
- SABC 1 title card registered for Openview
- SABC Children appears to have wrapped production

From what several consumers have shared SABC Parliament, a brand which formed part of the public broadcaster failed DTT plans have been shelved or restructured better yet to cater for this new channel with shows like Fokus, Leitlho La Schaba and Ngula La Vuthi.

All of this are basically repeats from SABC 1-3 and News and also summarised my theory for this new channel just another OpenNews which might as well have more success than eMedia's failed News And Sport channel.

SABC:
- Could SABC Encore revival be scrapped?
- A former SABC channel was added onto Openview
- SABC Movies' dream journal
- SABC Education not launching on Openview

Taking the content to account, it's possible that this might be one of the two entertainment channels eMedia Investments failed to launch in 2021 and also one of the three yet to be launched channels on DStv to replace eMedia's 4 channels.

The public broadcaster is behind on launching new channels but the details about this upcoming channel matches the description promised to Openview consumers about the two channels in 2021: it would carry a lot of existing and archived material.

With SABC Parliament scrapped, you've got to wonder what's become of the SABC Encore revival and SABC Children. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if these suffered the chop as well but the channels were just clear speculation.

New Series Alert: A Woman Of Steel Coming Soon To TLNovelas Africa

Not to be mistaken with competitor Telemundo's 2015 series Woman Of Steel, the Mexican based brand TLNovelas offering dramas that contain romance, drama, comedy and other socio-economic situations will be introducing a new series, A Woman Of Steel (Soy Tu dueña).

Valentina's life is turned upside-down after her fiancé Alonso leaves her at the altar. She becomes a different woman and her new attitude sends her to the family's hacienda, where she governs with a firm hand and soon this protagonist becomes the town's villain.

Everyday Novelas:
- Nurses S3 coming soon to Telemundo
- Fearless Heart coming soon to Telemundo
- Prediction: What to expect on Telemundo by next year?
- Prediction: What to expect on TLNovelas by next year?

Based on the 1995 telenovela La Dueña, it stars Lucero and Fernando Colunga as the protagonists with Eduardo Capetillo as the co-protagonist, while Gabriela Spanic, David Zepeda, Sergio Goyri, and Jacqueline Andere stars as the antagonists.

In December 2022, TLNovelas unveiled another series The Heartless starring Livia Brito and José Ron is scheduled for to be released later in the month in place of Giving Up My Life so A Woman Of Steel will likely take up Overcoming Heartbreak in February.

DStv Flex:
- What to expect this January on Curiosity Channel?
- What to expect this January on The Home Channel?
- Reyka renewed for season 2 on M-Net
- What to expect this January on Qwest TV?

Boomerang Vs. Cartoonito: Warner Bros. Discovery's Attempt At Reinventing A Family Friendly Platform

Cartoonito was relaunched on Boomerang in April with shows like Thomas And Friends: All Engines Go!, Lucas The Spider and CoComelon with plans to add at least 50 preschool titles in the near future or at least before the recent cutbacks come into effect following the merger.

One thing I believe will happen is the 50 titles but what seems far-off would be the duration. As it is, Cartoon Network's (including Cartoonito) ratings continue to plummet overseas but the brand has seen success in other countries.

But the one brand I see Warner Bros. Discovery doesn't take to account is Boomerang. As it is, the channel appears to be autopilot relying on the few programs it acquired or aired during the year including Looney Tunes Cartoons, Ninja Express and Mr. Bean.

Insidus Games:
- Tom And Jerry: Infurnal Escape
- Tom And Jerry: The Magic Ring
- The Wild Thornberrys Movie
- The Wild Thornberrys: Chimp Chase

All in all it appears that all the attention once given to Boomerang is being reverted to Cartoonito as they've got a lineup of existing preschool shows like Masha And The Bear, Legends Of Spark and Grizzy And The Lemmings.

Boomerang has been considered a family channel for nearly a decade now that Warner Bros. Discovery wants to put that focus on Cartoon Network. It kind of makes sense for the channel to adopt a new identity and for that I'm referring to their preschool brand, Cartoonito.

Cartoonito exists as a mere block on the channel and there hasn't been a lot of new content that doesn't mean it's not impossible to convert Boomerang. As mentioned, they've already got a set of existing content that fit the preschool brand current offering internationally.

Regular Nick:
- CBeebies picks up second season to Tish And Tash
- Best & Bester coming soon to Nicktoons
- We Baby Bears currently the only original program on Cartoon Network
- January on Cartoon Network and Boomerang

On top of that there is the matter of upcoming productions such as Interstellar Ella, Batwheels and True And Rainbow Kingdom all of which being preschool were registered for Boomerang.

Although, I have yet to see them rebrand the channel there hasn't been any new content that caters to the demographic of Zig & Sharko, Looney Tunes Cartoons or Ninja Express likely having to do with the recent Redraw Your World taking to effect on Cartoon Network.

Prediction: From CBS Justice And Nicktoons Untimely Demise On The DStv Platform To The Launch Of Openview Ultra, Here's What We Anticipate For 2023

A prediction is a statement of what you think will happen in future.

Regular Nick:
- Boomerang rebrands into Cartoonito by the fall of 2023 with shows like Zig & Sharko and Looney Tunes phased out of the lineup.
- Nicktoons goes off air partially due to the launch of Paramount+ with further content on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.
- The Ethiopian feed of Nick Jr. is discontinued.
- Cartoon Network launches a new preschool block daily at 5am.
- SABC launches a brand new kids channel: SABC Children.
- Da Vinci app and BBC Kids both launch on the Explora Ultra.
- eToonz introduces an educational block.

Superhero:
- MultiChoice rolls out two AddSports feature similar to AddMovies both of which are priced at R499p/m and offer SuperSport Grandstand.
- SuperSport Variety 4 made available to Easyview customers while Access customers get SuperSport Football.

YouTube Premium:
- Paramount+ launches in the first quarter of 2023 and is also available on the Explora Ultra.
- VIU, another international streaming service goes off air.
- Jou Afrikaans another streaming service scrapped and acquired by MultiChoice and Media24.
- Disney+ and Netflix launch a freemium version of their streaming service.
- On top of a free alternative, streaming services give viewers the option of which section they'd rather not watch.

Warner Bros. Discovery:
- Expectations on the merger between HBO Max and Discovery+
- Max: Possible name for merged Discovery+ and HBO Max streaming service
- Boomerang continues to boost its preschool offering in CEE
- Inside Warner Bros. Discovery's EMEA kids content strategy

SABC:
- After 2 years, SABC FINALLY unveils the new channels most of the public forgot about: SABC Encore and SABC Children.
- SABC managed to launch SABC Parliament and SABC Sport 2 both of which are exclusive to SABC+ and their DTT platform. Expect more of this.
- SABC Education reviews their international offering to also include international content.
- SABC to charge MultiChoice's DStv and eMedia Investments' Openview TV licence.
- SABC forces other streaming services to supply their content.

Everyday Novelas:
- TLNovelas undergoes another schedule adjustment in order to increase the amount of content aired on primetime.
- Telemundo introduces another variety/reality show alongside two short series basically a block of some sorts.
- Glow TV becomes a digital exclusive platform.
- Zee TV alongside it's set of channels unveil a new look possible name change due to that pending merger between Culver Max Entertainment and Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

Openview:
- Openview Ultra a trial version to the upcoming pay-tv tier Openview+ launches in the first quarter of 2023 with two channels: BBC UKTV and an untitled news channel.
- Glow TV and SA Music cease to exist.
- New channels part of which for Openview+ range from factual entertainment, sports, news and doccies.
- eReality offers 24 hour entertainment.
- Openview launches somewhat of a catch-up section on their platform to paying consumers with certain titles free.

The Walt Disney Company:
- Star Channel to replace remaining feeds of defunct brand FOX
- Disney unveils new series Kiff
- FOX Turkey rumoured to close down by 2023
- DStv Streama now offers Disney+

Google:
- Mickey Mouse horror flick is in development
- From Dusk Till Dawn and Beverly Hills Ninja both recieve movie reboots.
- A+E Networks is acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery with Lifetime turning to more fictional content and History becoming Discovery History.
- Alvin And The Chipmunks is acquired by Moonbug Entertainment (Candle Media).

StarSat:
- Toonami is the next kids channel to exit the platform.
- National Geographic, Baby TV and ESPN go off air on the platform all of which are owned by The Walt Disney Company.
- New channels include BBC UKTV, DocuBox and People's Weather.

DStv:
- eExtra and eToonz remain on the DStv platform while eMovies and eMovies Extra go off air.
- CBS Justice and CBS Reality merge to form RealityXtra or at least what we're hoping for.
- TNT rebrands into Warner TV, not much change at this point except for the name.
- Discovery Family, Travel Channel and Real Time kick the bucket and are replaced with Discovery Max.
- Other terminations include Ginx TV, People's Weather, Tshwane TV, Boomerang, Channel O, MTV Base.
- New channels consists from newer brands while some like BBC UKTV come from existing suppliers genres range from lifestyle, news, kids and general entertainment.