Cartoon Network (United Kingdom and Ireland)

Cartoon Network (commonly abbreviated as CN) is a British pay television channel aimed at children which airs animated programming targeting children and young aged 6 to 12. It is run by Warner Bros. Discovery under its EMEA division. The channel primarily airs animated programming.

The channel initially launched on 17 September 1993 as a larger pan-European feed, serving the UK market along with Western and Northern Europe. In August 1999, the pan-European aspect of Cartoon Network Europe was spun-off as a new feed with an identical schedule to Cartoon Network UK (the former pan-European feed). Cartoon Network UK completely ceased being a pan-European feed on 15 October 1999, which was when it was scrambled with Videocrypt and the launch of the UK only version of TNT. The pan-European feed continued to shadow Cartoon Network UK's schedule until 2001. The pan-European feed excluded shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Angela Anaconda and were substituted, as Cartoon Network did not have the pan-European broadcasting rights to these shows, only the rights for the UK and the Netherlands.

In October 1992, the original Cartoon Network channel was launched in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. Cartoon Network was created in response to Turner Entertainment acquiring MGM's animation library in 1986 and the acquisition of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio and cartoon library in 1991. As a result of Turner purchasing MGM's Cartoon and Film library, Warner Bros. pre-1948 content was also acquired, including early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts. At launch in the United States, Cartoon Network had an 8,500-hour cartoon library, and became the first channel dedicated strictly to cartoons.

With the Cartoon Network's large animation library being in high demand in Western Europe and as a response to consumer demand, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced in March 1993 that they would launch Cartoon Network in Europe. The channel would be located within the Astra 1C satellite, itself launching in May 1993 on board an Ariane 42L rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Cartoon Network Europe officially launched on 17 September 1993, being the third version of the channel to launch after the Latin American feed (which launched in April). It launched only less than 12 months after the original American version and only 16 days after Nickelodeon. The channel was broadcast free-to-air throughout Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Nordic territories, and timeshared with TNT Classic Movies, of which it would air from 5:00 AM-7:00 PM and TNT would take over afterward. In the UK, while rival Nickelodeon was a pay-TV network through the Sky Multichannels service, Cartoon Network remained free-to-air in the country.

Strands that existed on the channel included "Super Chunk", which showed back to back episodes of one show for two hours between 1 pm and 3 pm on Sunday afternoons. Another strand was "The Longest Day", in which Cartoon Network ran for an extra four hours until 11:00 PM in June 1994, every year beginning in 1994. This slot was dedicated to full-length cartoon movies. The first theme was the Checkerboard theme, which showed graphics from its US counterpart and lasted until 1999. The Checkerboard branding package was developed by Hatmaker Studios, now merged and part of its sister company - Corey, McPherson and Nash.

By 1996, the combined CN/TNT channel slot was available in over 31 million homes in over 33 territories.

In September 1996, Cartoon Network expanded its broadcast hours by two, ending broadcasts at 9:00 PM. Beginning in December 1996, a 24-hour version of the network and TNT was launched on the on the Astra 1G satellite through select European digital cable providers, although it was not made available in the UK as the timesharing version remained on all providers in the country. The 24-hour version launched in the UK on CableTel beginning in 1997. Also, in February 1997, Dutch cable provider A2000/KTA added the 24-hour Cartoon Network and TNT channels to its programming lineup.