SB-06: Cartoon Network 2.0 | Final Notes

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By now, you're getting just a gist of how I want to reinvent Cartoon Network. The creation of a brand new division headed by a legendary animation studio and a cable pioneer. Four networks comprised of a family network, an edgy teen/young adult outlet, an all-cartoon channel for all ages, and a refocused main network. A broadcast Saturday morning block. A joint venture with a Canadian juggernaut.

But this is just half the story and only a fraction of what Cartoon Network has to do to survive as well as properly compete against the likes of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.

- Brand building and rebuilding is a key step in the big picture. They're currently doing that on Cartoon Network right now. DC Nation is a great stard in builidng a strong brand powered by DC Entertainment's stable of characters and franchises. Cartoon Network is also building up their popular Ben 10 franchise into a multimedia empire. Two live-action films. over 130 episodes and climbing. Right now, Warner Bros. is reinventing Looney Tunes, ThunderCats, and a few Hanna-Barbera properties even as you read this. Cartoon Network is also exploiting their franchises, some long dormant, in new multimedia endeavors. FusionFall was the first really big project. Others will be a part of that brand building endeavor. Speaking of brand rebuilding...

- Rechristen Cartoon Network Studios as Hanna-Barbera. Hanna-Barbera is not a dormant brand. Their classic properties are still a part of the national and international psyche. Movies and merchandising featuring those characters make millions in revenue and at the box office. The studio currently calling itself Cartoon Network Studios is the successor of the spirit left behind when the studio shuttered. But you know something? There's value in that brand, more than the current regime even realizes. Continue the long-fabled legacy of Hanna-Barbera and reintroduce the brand to a new generation by bringing the classic characters (especially those not named and associated with Scooby-Doo) on the medium where they became classics: television!

- Acquire studios around the globe. In the initial plan, I've realized there are five studios that would be ripe for an outright acquisition by Cartoon Network Entertainment. One in particular has become one of the biggest independent producers of Animation in the US. Animation is a global medium, and Cartoon Network needs to be the leader in bringing the medium closer to the masses. After all, Cartoon is their first name. Content is king.

- Acquire one of two independent children's brands managers. There are two brand managers that could be a welcome addition in Cartoon Network Entertainment. One brand manager's expertise is preschool entertainment, which would be a vital part of Checkerboard's preschool block of programming. Another's expertise is entertainment for all ages as well as a library of familiar brands and iconic characters, many of which have graced Cartoon Network in the past. As part of Cartoon Network Entertainment, their IP catalogs will be more than doubled filled with properties that could easily be revived for today's audiences.

In the end, would this reorganization of Cartoon Network be easy? No, of course not, but then again, would you really expect it to be? There would be many people adverse to such a radical reorganization, particularly the current regime and lots of people on the Turner side. Then again, many of the network's founders are gone, and many more are actually over at the Warner Bros. Animation side, who would be amped to put a permanent mark on a network they care so much about.

The Animation, Teens, and Young Adult division of Turner is a pointless division considering it's only Cartoon Network, so shutting the division down would largely be a mercy killing. Cartoon Network needs a new direction. They need to revive the spirit that propelled their creation in the first place. They need to expand and evolve at home if they want to fully compete against Nickelodeon or Disney Channel because otherwise, they're going to remain in third place. They need to find outlets where they could introduce the brand to new audiences and continue to create a voice that is the alternative to what the others are bringing. In the same breath, they need to tell the world who they are, who they were, and who they're going to be. They need to realize those things themselves and shout it to the heavens themselves.

They are Cartoon Network. Be animated.

Keep creating.