Toonami Article |Birth of a Network

Originally Posted 07/10/08 by Jeff Harris

I may have played a part in creating a network, and I had no idea at the time.

Quick show of hands, how many of you remember CNX? Okay, okay, how many of you remember when The X Bridge was called CNX? That's about what I expected. How many of you remember CNX, the network? Hmm, alrighty. that looks about right. Most of you are probably Brits as well, I reckon or remember me whining about the network way back when. I may have been responsible for the creation of CNX, the world's first network themed around the Toonami block.

A little flashback for those who either were too young to notice or just didn't give a damn the first time around.

On October 14, 2002, Cartoon Network UK launched CNX, an action-animation/live-action hybrid network aimed towards young males and centered around the Toonami brand. Weeks prior to the official announcement, I was bombarded with numerous letters from readers just discovering my site, mostly from Britain, all asking the same question. "When is CNX launching?" "Will my service provider pick it up?" Needless to say, I was a bit confused. Ever since the site was relaunched at CNX: Toonami Revolution in July 1999, I made it a point that CNX is just the name of my site and isn't exactly launching anywhere. My friend, Matthew Williams, pointed me to an article at the time that had the official announcement. Some of my friends over at Toon Zone discussed the network's initial announcement with some folks at Cartoon Network in the US, and a lot of them familiar with my site were shocked to say the least, particularly the fellas at Williams Street, whom I know so well. When I saw the announcement for myself, I commented on the announcement at Toon Zone News as well as on CNX, which prompted the guy who launched the network, Dominic Gardiner, to write me back.

Trouble is, well, he wrote me months earlier just when the idea was still circulating there.

I don't think I'll have any problems transcribing the e-mails we wrote each other. After all, Dom's not at Cartoon Network anymore and a whole lot of other stuff went down, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

For the first time anywhere, conversations that led to the creation of CNX. The network, not the site.

FIRST CONTACT: May 20, 2002.

Hi Jeff,

I just wanted to show my appreciation of your site and say well done! I first spotted it a couple of years ago and surprisingly you have managed to maintain a quality product, when so many sites have floundered. Keep up the campaign for an all action/anime channel, I'm sure it will happen eventually in some form.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the ideal solution to a full anime channel. Ive heard a lot about Locomotion in Latin America and Spain, but Ive never actually seen them myself.

I hope this feedback is good for you, you sounded like you were running out of steam in your last Abstat report!

All the best

Dom

Dominic Gardiner
Director of Programming
Cartoon Network & Boomerang UK

Okay, this is where the typical fanboy mode kind of took over my thoughts. The fact that somebody actually high up and in a position of power actually read my site in detail and really liked it kind of makes one's day. Don't know what drugs feel like, but I was feeling pretty groovy that day. He mentioned AbStat, which was the original abbreviation for Absolution Station, a section which I, ironicly, relaunched in time for the site's 10th anniversary as BXT: Absolution Station (the section you're currently reading this). I talked about Locomotion in that edition, which was, at the time, one of the few channels on the planet with a heavy concentration of Japanese animation. It had the strange case of being an American-owned network not available in the US and serving Spanish-speaking audiences. It recently became a part of the Sony-owned global powerhouse known as Animax, but that's a conversation for another time. I had to make contact as well.

First Reply: May 22, 2002

Thank you for the kind words, Dominic. It's a rare opportunity to be appreciated by those who are running things at Cartoon Network, but it's even rarer to hear from somebody outside the states (I know it's a World Wide Web, but international recognition is a rare event for someone like me).

Shh! Listen. You hear that sound? That's me sucking up. It's a sickening sound, I know. Damn you 2002 me, you're such a kiss-ass! No wonder you suck! Back to Sycophantry 101.

The reason why it seemed like I was running out of steam with the last AbStat update is because, well, nobody ever gave me feedback on it. I created five different issues, and I never gotten any praise, criticism, or tips from readers. Sure, I got the usual comments from ADV and Bandai based on their shows I reviewed, but I got next to nothing from the fans, and that kinda hurt a bit. Real life kinda gotten in the way around the time of the update. There were bad moments (like my grandfather having a mild stroke) and a few good moments (I had a gallery show as well as finally graduated from college a few weeks ago). I plan on updating the entire site over the next couple of weeks and I plan to focus on the shows and formats of the block over the past five years.

And I did. This site looked a lot different in 2002 than it does now. Hell, this site looks different than it did a few weeks ago compared to now. I'll be quiet and continue.

So, you're the Director of Programming over at Cartoon Network and Boomerang UK? Nice work if you can get it. Perhaps you're one of the best individuals to answer a few questions for me one day, if you don't mind. I'd like to know how well-received Toonami is in the UK, and I'm sure the rest of the US fanbase would like a glimpse of the fanbase on the other side of the pond.

I heard about Locomotion for a couple of years now, and for somebody who is outside of its viewing circle, I kinda know a lot about it, and I do like the way they're running things. Hearst Entertainment owns the net, and ADV and Bandai both have a lot of interest in the network, showcasing their shows on the Spanish-speaking network. In my opinion, I think that Cartoon Network is on the verge of something with this Toonami format. Right now, it's spreading all over the world (but I think you knew that), and hopefully, it could eventually spinoff into its own network, just like the Boomerang block did back in 2000. However, I think that the best way to create a Toonami-themed network is to be part of an alliance group with somebody like Sony (who owns an anime-heavy network in Japan called Animax) who has the advertising edge, and an anime distributor, like ADV Films or Bandai Entertainment, which would easily provide content to a network. Just as long as Cartoon Network is the majority owner in this joint venture, of course, and air action-animation from all over the world (not just Japan).

Of course, that's just my opinion.

Once again, thank you for feedback, Dom. If you have time, I'll be more than happy to send you the questions for a potential interview for my site.

Thanks again.

Later.
Jeff Harris
CNX: Toonami Revolution

A plan. A simple plan, a little understanding about where I'm coming from, and like that, I got his attention. Unlike a lot of his peers, I actually had done my research, and I've created A plan. Not the mother of all plans, but the idea of a Toonami channel is in place, and in the head of someone who actually seems to be interested in launching one.

Weeks later, I talked to Dom once again. He gave me a little bit of background on the Toonami block in the UK as well as British digital programming in general. I think it was Dom who inspired me that digital television is the way to go, but the technology hadn't gotten to a reachable, affordable point in 2002. My curiousity was peaked about DTV. In case you didn't know, digital television in the UK makes digital television in the US look like it was ran by rank amateurs, which it pretty much is, but that is a conversation for another time. Here's the second contact:

Second Contact: May 27, 2002

Send through your questions Jeff and I would be happy to send you some official replies that you can put on your site. Quickly on that note Jeff, I trust that you wont print anything we discuss without my permission!? That way I can talk freely and you can get info you need.

Some background for you....Toonami launched in the UK in Sept 2001, essentially to create a different feel and atmosphere around shows such as DBZ, Batman of the Future (Beyond to you!). Gundam Wing and the Tenchi series launched the following January.

First time out all these shows have done extremely well. The success of the franchise is driven by NEW DBZ episodes. DBZ is the real star of the show, the rest are a the support acts. We have since launched X-Men Evolution and Blue Sub 6...and next up is Beyblade and Justice League. Toonami has launched as a block on CN France and CN Spain recently too. Spain incidentally have created their own look, both France and Spain have unique programming.

I would be interested in your comments about our web site...we have problems with rights for good content, so the site is very design heavy and not a lot of detail I'm afraid. But there are some nice bits never the less.

Most tv in the UK is now digital, and we have hundreds of channels and lots of interactivity via your TV. It enabled us to roll out Boomerang 2 years ago. Boom now has nearly the same audience as CN and regularly gets into the top 5 kids channels. So it goes without saying that we are in a very good position to look at more new channel ideas. Your thoughts on a Sony link up are very interesting. Content wise this would be a fantastic relationship, especially if we could hook into their PS2 developments. The big question would be whether AOLTW and Sony could "corporately" work together at all. Bandai would be a great link up, for both content and merchandising.

Send me your interview and I will try and get you some interesting stuff to print. Thanks for your opinions etc, I would be interested to know a little more about you, so don't be shy.

Dom

And I did. I pretty much asked a bunch of questions and the like about Toonami in the UK, commented on the graphic-heavy site (told him there should be more interactivity between the network and the viewers, and not just games), and things like that. I won't reprint them here because I never got a response from Dom.

I hadn't even heard from Dominic for a number of months as a matter of fact. I had thought to myself "Maybe I was too much of a fanboy. Maybe I'm trying too hard to be a good soldier."

The next time I would hear from Dominic was after the initial announcement of CNX, the network.

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