What MeTV Toons Is (and Isn't)

It's time to clarify a lot of things regarding MeTV Toons, which is launching in most markets over-the-air on June 25, 2024. Sadly, my market isn't one of them at launch, but for you folks who are getting it, I want you to enjoy it and tell your friends and families to watch and contact your local cable and satellite providers to put the channel on their lineups.

There has been a lot of confusion about the network's targeted audience. There's also a lot of misinformation about the channel's ties to Boomerang and whether its existence will cause that channel to close down. Let's start about what MeTV Toons is and what it's not.

MeTV Toons is a general audience broadcast network in the vein of similarly-themed classic television channels like Antenna TV, Retro Television Network, GET, Classy Comedy, and, of course, MeTV. The difference between those and MeTV Toons is that MeTV Toons airs a lineup that's 99.44% animation (the 0.56% is Gerry Anderson's iconic Supermarionation series that air in the late-night slots).

According to Jerry Beck, one of the network's main strategists, and Neal Sabin, Weigel Broadcasting's Executive Vice President and the creator of the channel itself, it is NOT a children's network. They've been on the record about this in many interviews for weeks now.

The core demographics of the channel are Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, primarily folks over the age of 40. That said, they are also catering to older Millennials, i.e. folks who were kids in the late-1980s to the mid-1990s. That said, they're also on the record of saying that Cartoon Network Studios-made Cartoon Network originals will likely NOT be on the MeTV Toons at launch or ever. They're also not going to produce original cartoons for the channel either.

Again, MeTV Toons is not catered or aimed towards children, but kids will likely tune in. Everybody loves cartoons, it happens. The network does have to follow FCC guidelines and regulations, including the Children's Television Act, because it is an over-the-air broadcast network.

ALL broadcast stations have to adhere to FCC guidelines and regulations. Cable doesn't have to follow them because they're not on public airwaves and only available through cable/satellite providers.

Speaking of cable networks, a word about Boomerang.

Boomerang and MeTV Toons are not owned by the same company.

Let me repeat this because some folks are constantly and repeatedly confused about this fact.

BOOMERANG AND METV TOONS ARE NOT OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY.

Yes, Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of Cartoon Network, Inc., the operators of Boomerang, is a partner in MeTV Toons with Weigel Broadcasting. However, the general operations of the channel, including managerial and programming duties, fall under Weigel Broadcasting, NOT Warner Bros Discovery and definitely not Cartoon Network, Inc. WBD is a partner that's providing resources and programming to MeTV Toons, and, by all indications, that's as far as the partnership goes. This is pretty much Weigel's baby, folks. 

If Warner Bros Discovery does decide to close down Boomerang, it won't be because of MeTV Toons. That channel has had identity problems for decades and has suffered from a lack of coverage on major cable operators in top media markets. These problems were there LONG before MeTV Toons was a glimmer in Neal Sabin's eyes, so to say MeTV Toons is going to "finish" Boomerang is unfair to MeTV Toons and completely disingenuous and oblivious to the reality Boomerang has faced for decades.

Again, MeTV Toons is NOT going to "finish" Boomerang any more than DABL finishing off BET. For the uninitiated, is, like MeTV Toons, a broadcast network that shows older programming aimed towards a particular demographic. Weigel also manages this channel, and Paramount Global is the owner of the channel. Paramount also owns BET. Both BET and DABL are catering to the same audiences and shares many of the same shows throughout their channels like BET Her, MTV 2, and VH1.

Has DABL "finished" off BET? No. Is Paramount Network in danger because The CW exists? Is USA in danger because COZI TV is a thing? Free TV Channels is about to launch a reality channel called DARE and A&E is a partner in that channel. Is A&E in danger because DARE exists? So why would you believe that MeTV Toons, which isn't even FULLY owned by Warner Bros Discovery, would "finish" off Boomerang? Because they air cartoons? That's... moronic. One doesn't affect the other.

In regard to what MeTV Toons is and isn't, a lot of people have lost their ever-loving minds and their common sense when it comes to anything animation related. It's an epidemic of fandom derangement syndrome, and ANYTHING regarding MeTV Toons have made a lot of you folks needlessly paranoid and dim.

I'm not speaking on an official capacity when it comes to MeTV Toons. I'm just a fan who wants to see the channel thrive, expand, and succeed, and the needless pessimism and worry is unwarranted and tiring. 

It's not that serious. I know it's something no one expected, and I do get why some folks are anxious about it. But I think we all should be optimistic and anticipate the best from the folks at MeTV Toons. A classic animation channel intended and created for older adult animation fans was not on my bingo card for 2024, but I'm looking forward to what this channel has to offer in the coming months and beyond. 

I just hope I can get it on my TV.