User blog:USA1999/Boomerang (revived)

Boomerang is an American cable television network and streaming service owned by the Kids, Young Adults and Classics division of Warner Bros. Entertainment,

a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia.

Boomerang debuted as a programming block on Cartoon Network introduced in 1992, focusing on classic cartoons from the WB library (including Warner Bros. Cartoons and Hanna-Barbera productions, among many others), and eventually grew into its own separate channel devoted to such content in 2000. Since a rebranding in 2015 (which aimed to promote Boomerang as a "second flagship" brand alongside Cartoon Network), Boomerang began to air original programming, focusing primarily on reboots of popular legacy franchises such as Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo. The network's drift towards modern content has also seen it carry reruns of current or recent Cartoon Network series. In 2017, Boomerang launched an over-the-top subscription service focusing on classic cartoons.

As of September 2018, Boomerang is available to approximately 38.312 million pay television households in the United States.

As of January 2020, Boomerang has begun broadcasting in high definition on certain platforms, including Hulu.

History
Much of the programming that made up the core of Boomerang's lineup was originally part of TBS's Disaster Area, a block of children's programming that aired on that network from 1997 to 1999.

Boomerang originated as a programming block on Cartoon Network that debuted on December 8, 1992. It was aimed towards the generation of baby boomers and was similar to the Vault Disney nostalgia block that would debut five years later on the Disney Channel. It originally aired for four hours every weekend, but the block's start time had changed frequently. The Saturday block moved to Saturday afternoons, then back to the early morning, and the Sunday block moved to Sunday evenings. Eventually, Boomerang was shortened by an hour, reducing it from four hours to three each weekend. Turner Broadcasting System eventually converted Boomerang into a standalone cable channel that debuted on April 1, 2000. The Cartoon Network block continued to run under the new Boomerang channel branding until October 3, 2004.

On February 4, 2014, as part of Turner Broadcasting's 2014 upfronts, it was announced that Boomerang would become advertising-supported, seeking additional international distribution.

Availability on subscription television
Boomerang is carried on few pay television providers; tiering of the channel varies by service, with some operators offering it as either a basic-tier or higher-tier network. Most providers do not carry the linear channel, instead offering the network's video on demand service bundled with Cartoon Network. On March 4, 2019, the channel changed its default ratio to 16:9, with 4:3 content being aired stretched and the screen bug moving away from the 4:3 area, similar to what Cartoon Network did in May 2013.

Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Boomerang

Historically, Boomerang avoided overt channel drift and, despite adding newer content to its library, continued to air programming from the breadth of its archives. By spring 2014, however, most of its archival programming was relegated to graveyard slots while the daytime schedule became dominated by programming from the 1990s and later. This policy underwent a partial reversal in April 2017, with a larger focus on shows from the 2010s, before older Cartoon Network series returned to Boomerang's schedule from January 2018 to May 2019, and again in half-hour time slots in September 2020. Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, The Smurfs, and various entries in the Scooby-Doo franchise have more or less had permanent places on the schedule since the rebrand, while previous network mainstays The Flintstones and The Jetsons returned in a late-night time slot in July 2018 before leaving the schedule again in November of that year.

Not all of WarnerMedia's animation library is exclusively available to Boomerang. A portion of that catalog which includes series produced in collaboration with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment (including Tiny Toon Adventures and most of Animaniacs), as well as most works involving Batman and Superman (such as the DC Animated Universe), is put out for license to other networks; those properties most recently aired on the Hub Network from late 2012 until its closure in October 2014. In addition, WarnerMedia's collection of Christmas specials — including the latter half of the Rankin/Bass Productions library — is licensed to AMC for their Best Christmas Ever block as of 2018; those specials previously aired on Freeform and its predecessors for nearly 20 years, as part of their 25 Days of Christmas lineup. In 2019, former channel fixture The Flintstones was licensed out to MeTV; in 2021, that network introduced two morning blocks that feature WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS content (including Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, Popeye, Betty Boop, and MGM theatrical shorts), many of which still air on Boomerang as well as MeTV; also in 2021, MeTV acquired another former Boomerang fixture, The Jetsons.

Boomerang itself occasionally licenses programming from other distributors, such as with The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (which joined the lineup for a short run in August and September 2013) and with Garfield and Friends (which joined in September 2019).

Although Boomerang's programming philosophy was originally intended to showcase classic cartoons, newer shows have been added in recent years, some even before the rebrand. From January to December 2012, new episodes of the Italian animated series Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville aired on the channel. Wedgies, a series of animated interstitials that previously aired on Cartoon Network, were reintroduced in 2013. In December 2014, Boomerang added Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball to its lineup, alongside their airings on Cartoon Network; those shows left in April 2017. On June 28, 2015, it was announced that Boomerang would receive original programs such as New Looney Tunes, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, and an animated adaptation of Bunnicula. Throughout mid-2018, Boomerang added re-runs of modern Cartoon Network series to its lineup, including Regular Show, Mighty Magiswords, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe.

Similar to what Nickelodeon does with Nicktoons and TeenNick, Boomerang is used as a burn-off channel for new episodes of acquired series previously ordered for Cartoon Network that don't fit the latter's programming direction; Numb Chucks was picked up by Boomerang for first-run broadcast on January 10, 2015, while Grizzy and the Lemmings joined in April 2017 and My Knight and Me arrived in June of the same year. The channel has also aired unadvertised, first-run episodes of Cartoon Network series before their initial debut (such as with Johnny Test and Ben 10: Omniverse), and also simulcasts programs with its parent service for cross-promotional purposes; instances of this include the preschool-oriented block Tickle-U and the 48-hour premiere of Summer Camp Island in July 2018.

Programming blocks
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Boomerang § Current programming blocks

Because of Boomerang's fluid schedule, programming blocks used to air for a few months, then be removed from the schedule, only to be added again a few months later, until they were almost all phased out in late 2014, due to the network's rebrand.

Current

 * Boomerang Theater – Boomerang's movie showcase block.

Boomerang On Demand
Boomerang On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service, offering select episodes of the channel's archived programming, along with select archived Cartoon Network original programs. Launched in 2005, it is available on select digital cable, satellite and IPTV providers. In April 2013, Boomerang On Demand began to separate program content by "theme" (for example, in observance of Mother's Day, the service featured episodes of The Flintstones and Dexter's Laboratory focusing on Dexter's mom and Wilma Flintstone), but this method was scrapped in January 2015 due to the network's rebrand.

Mobile app/subscription service
On March 7, 2017, Boomerang announced that it would launch an app that will feature programming from the 5000+ titles from its sister companies Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros, as well as exclusive original programming. The app launched on April 11, 2017, and is available either for $4.99 per month or $39.99 annually. New episodes and content are planned to be added weekly. Currently, the Boomerang App is only available for subscription in the United States. On November 13, 2018, the Boomerang service launched as a channel on the VRV streaming service. It was later removed off VRV on December 1, 2020.