Télétoon (stylized as TĒLĒTOON) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment that broadcasts animated series aimed at children, teenagers, and adults. Its name is a portmanteau of "télévision" and "cartoon".
Télétoon launched on September 8, 1997, as a bilingual service owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc. – a consortium of Western International Communications and Astral Media (via their specialty channel Family Channel), Shaw Communications (via its specialty channel YTV), and the animation studios Cinar and Nelvana. With subsequent acquisitions and divestments, Corus became the sole owner in 2014.
As with Télétoon's English-language counterpart, which launched in October 1997 as "Teletoon", the channel has aired a mix of domestic productions and imported series, with many of the latter coming from U.S. channel Cartoon Network. A Canadian version of Cartoon Network would launch as a sister channel in 2012, under license from Turner Broadcasting. In March 2023, the English-language Teletoon rebranded as a new iteration of Cartoon Network, with the previous Cartoon Network channel rebranding under Turner's secondary animation brand Boomerang.
As of 2013, Télétoon, along with the present-day Cartoon Network, has been available in over 7.3 million Canadian households.
History It was licensed in 1996 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The French-language channel was the first to be launched on September 8, 1997. It used the slogan ('The Animation Station', the same as that of the contemporary English-language channel), and later added and then switched to Imagine!.
When Télétoon was launched in 1997, it showed more mature fare as the day progressed, with a solid commitment to air diverse and international programming and the ability to air a great majority of material uncut. A typical broadcast day started with preschool content at 7:00 a.m. EST and ended with adult content after midnight, airing more adult cartoons such as Duckman and various anime programs.
In 1999, Télétoon started airing bumpers with its first mascot, Teletina. These bumpers were made by Spin Productions in Toronto. Several more bumpers using CGI animation with some made by Guru Studio premiered on the channel in 2001. An updated look for the channel, no longer featuring the original logo (and fully utilizing the wordmark that introduced as an alternate logo in 2001), was later created for a partial rebranding in 2005. The bumpers were removed in 2007 as part of an on-air rebranding.
On February 5, 2007, Télétoon's on-air appearance and website were dramatically changed, and Le Détour's website was moved to teletoon.com. The look of the channel and the Le Détour block changed.
On September 5, 2011, Télétoon's branding was changed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of co-owner Astral Media and to reflect the transition from analogue to digital television. Télétoon la Nuit's on-air branding was not changed until 2020.
In August 2015, it was announced that Télétoon Rétro would be shutting down, and some series would be moving to Télétoon on September 1.
On February 21, 2023, Corus announced that Teletoon would be rebranded as Cartoon Network on March 27, 2023. No significant changes were made to Télétoon itself, and the "Teletoon" brand also remains active through the Teletoon+ streaming service. The network did not renew its rights for The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad in 2025, placing the decision on an exclusivity agreement with Disney+.Homer leaves Quebec: Petition to save Québécois French dubbing of The Simpsons
Changes in ownership When launched, the channel was owned by a consortium made up of various other Canadian specialty services and producers; Family Channel acting as managing partner at 53.3% (in a partnership between Astral Media and Western International Communications), YTV at 26.7% (under Shaw Communications), and Cinar and Nelvana with 10% each.
Changes of ownership have occurred since 1999, starting when Corus Entertainment was spun off from Shaw Communications (who had owned a stake in Télétoon through YTV). In 2000, Western International Communications (who owned a stake in Télétoon through the Family Channel alongside Astral Media) sold its stake in Télétoon to Corus Entertainment. The same year, Corus acquired Nelvana, another company with a stake in Télétoon. Due to a complaint from the CRTC, Corus sold the stake to Astral Media in 2001. Through various acquisitions over the years, Cinar Films, which was renamed Cookie Jar Group in 2004, came to own a 20% stake, and Astral Media and Corus Entertainment each owned a 40% stake. In 2006, Cookie Jar Group sold 10% of its stake in Teletoon to each of Astral and Corus, leading the two companies to each own 50% of Télétoon.
On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's 50% ownership interest in Teletoon Canada (owner of Teletoon, Télétoon, Teletoon Retro, Télétoon Rétro, and Cartoon Network). The purchase concerned Bell Media's pending takeover of Astral. The CRTC had rejected the takeover in October 2012. Still, it was restructured to allow the sale of certain Astral Media properties so that the purchase could clear regulatory barriers.BCE to sell assets to Corus as part of Astral deal, The Globe and Mail (via Reuters and The Canadian Press), March 4, 2013. Bell filed a new application for the proposed takeover with the CRTC on March 6, 2013.Astral and Bell Comment on New Acquisition Application to CRTC, Broadcaster Magazine, March 6, 2013. Corus's purchase was cleared by the Competition Bureau on March 18; the CRTC approved the Bell-Astral merger on June 27, 2013.CRTC approves Bell-Astral merger, CBC News, June 27, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013. On December 20, 2013, the CRTC approved Corus's full ownership of Teletoon Canada and it was purchased by Corus on January 1, 2014. The channel continues to be owned by Teletoon Canada, now wholly owned by Corus Entertainment under its Corus Kids and Corus Média divisions.
Programming Many of the programs broadcast on Télétoon are French-dubbed versions of those shown on its English-language counterpart. Initially, both channels had identical schedules, airing the same episode of the same program at the same time. Over time, their programming began to differ; Télétoon carries some translated programs that its English-language counterpart did not, as they are aired on other English cable networks. Many of the shows, such as The Simpsons and King of the Hill, receive Canadian French dubs and as such are aired here, while others (such as Naruto and virtually all series originating from Cartoon Network in the U.S) utilize their European French dubs (whether produced in France or Belgium).
Original series At its inception in 1997, the channel had a stated goal of producing 78 half-hours of original content every year, and it has been active in commissioning programming since then. The licence granted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1996 required a gradual increase in the portion of Canadian programming on the schedule by about five percent each year starting from 40% in its first year of operation to 60% by 2002. In 1998, network management decided to focus on renewals instead of new shows – adopting a more cautious strategy than launching a significant number of new series, as it had in the prior year. By 2001, however, the station was noted as possibly being the Canadian channel with the highest spending on original production, having invested in 98 series, including 225 half-hour episodes that fall season.
As a bilingual service, Teletoon/Télétoon maintained two separate broadcast feeds, with a single licence for the English- and French-language channels. It was one of only two Canadian specialty services with such a licence. At the original licensing hearing before the CRTC, the network's operators had stated that the two channels "would be similar in nature and programmed with a similar attitude towards them. But for the reasons of rights availability, for the reasons of the question of advertising to children in Québec and for the reason of dealing with the differences in the market, there might be variations in the services offered." To this end a requirement that all original programming be delivered in both languages was instituted. It had been relaxed to apply "whenever possible" by 2007 as market differences between English and Québecois/French-originated programming became more apparent, and over the following years some original series only appeared on one of the channels.
Current programming As of :TV Schedule for TéléTOON - français HD
Adventure Time: Fionna et Cake (Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake) Batwheels Beyblade X Bravest Warriors Bugs Bunny Constructeurs (Bugs Bunny Builders) Défis extrêmes (Total Drama) Garderie extrême (Total DramaRama) Hôtel Transylvanie (Hotel Transylvania) Il pleut des hamburgers (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) Jellystone! Looney Tunes Cartoons Mes aventures avec Superman (My Adventures with Superman) Le Monde Merveilleusement Bizarre de Gumball (The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball) Mysticons Peppa Pig Pikwik Pack Pokémon La Quête héroïque du valeureux Prince Ivandoe (The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe) Regular Show: Les Cassettes Oubliées (Regular Show: The Lost Tapes) Ruben et Cie (Rubble and Crew) Scooby-Doo et Compagnie (Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?) Teen Titans Go! Tiny Toons Looniversity
Former programming
Les 3 Amigonautes (3 Amigonauts) 3 et Moi (My Life Me) 6teen Ace Ventura (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) Adventure Time avec Finn et Jake (Adventure Time with Finn and Jake) Adventure Time: Le Pays Magique (Adventure Time: Distant Lands) Affreux Vilains Martiens (Butt-Ugly Martians) Air Academy (Flight Squad) Alien Bazar (Pet Alien) Les Amis ratons (The Raccoons) Angela Anaconda Angry Birds Toons Aquaman: le roi d'Atlantis (Aquaman: King of Atlantis) Arc-en-ciel le plus beau poisson des océans (Rainbow Fish) Archie, Mystères et Compagnie (Archie's Weird Mysteries) Atomic Betty (G) Atomic Puppet Avengers: L'équipe des supers héros (The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes) Avengers Rassemblement (Avengers Assemble) Les aventures d'Ollivier (Olliver's Adventures) Les Aventures d'une mouche (Fly Tales) Les Aventures de l'Ours Paddington (The Adventures of Paddington Bear) Axel et les Power Players Baby Looney Tunes Bagel et Becky (The Bagel and Becky Show) Bakugan Battle Brawlers Bakugan: Battle Planet Barbe-Rouge (Captain Red Beard) Les Baskerville (The Baskervilles) Batman (Batman: The Animated Series) Batman (The Batman) Batman : L'Alliance des héros (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) Batman, la relève (Batman Beyond) Battle B-Daman (B-Daman Crossfire) Beetlejuice Ben 10 (2005) Ben 10 (2016) Ben 10: Alien Force Ben 10: Omniverse Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Benjamin (Franklin) Benjamin et ses amis (Franklin and Friends) Bric-a-Brac 2 Stupid Dogs Bêtes à craquer (Animal Crackers) Beyblade Beyblade Burst Beyblade: Metal Fusion Billy the Cat, dans la peau d'un chat (Billy the Cat) Billy et Mandy, aventuriers de l'au-delà (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy) Bip Bip et Coyote (The Road Runner Show) Bizzareville (Freaktown) Blaise le blasé (Fred's Head) Blake et Mortimer (Blake and Mortimer) Clone High Bob et Scott (Bob and Scott) Boni La Boucle (Looped) Bratz Bugs Bunny et Tweety (The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show) Bugs et les Looney Tunes (New Looney Tunes) Builder Brothers: Fabrique de rêves (Builder Brothers Dream Factory) Bunnicula Ça passe ou ça casse (Hole in the Wall) Cadillacs et Dinosaures (Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) Caillou Camp Lazlo Camp Marécage (Camp Lakebottom) Capitaine Star (Captain Star) Carl au carré (Carl²) Carrément chat (Counterfeit Cat) Ce Cher Ed (Best Ed) Changelin, le jeune loup solitaire (Beast Boy: Lone Wolf) Chaotic Charlotte's Web Chop Chop Ninja