As CNX
CNX logo
CNX logo
Toonami was a programming block on Cartoon Network, until June 2002 when its programming was moved to the soon-to-be launched CNX.

On 24 September 2002, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced its launch on 14 October.[1] CNX would be the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America.

To promote CNX, six people attempted to break the world record for continuous TV watching, set at 46 hours, 30 minutes, and 50.91 seconds. Three participants—Steven Hayes, Adam King, and Nick Tungett—succeeded, watching for 47 hours.[2] They earned a place in the 2002 Guinness World Records, a £5,000 cash prize, and £2,000 in audio-visual equipment.[3]

The channel was initially available on Sky Digital and NTL:home.[4] At the time, Turner was in negotiations with Telewest to add the channel to their Active Digital cable service, and was soon added on 15 January 2003.[5]

In April 2003, Turner Broadcasting System had considered launching a U.S version of CNX, but Mark Lazarus, the former head of Turner Entertainment, stated such a launch was "not imminent", and never materialised.[6]

At the beginning of 2003, the channel introduced a Toonami programming strand that would air during the daytime hours. On 9 July 2003, Turner announced that CNX would close and rebrand as a standalone Toonami channel beginning in September 2003, with a Turner spokesperson citing that the adult market being "crowded and competitive" as the reason for its closure.[7]

On September 1, it was officially revealed that CNX would rebrand as Toonami on September 8, and on that day, CNX closed for the final time at 1am and its slot on all platforms was moved to the "Kids" sections and relabeled as Toonami, which launched at 6am on that day.[8]

CNX did not function like Turner's other kids channels, instead operating as a general entertainment network with children's programming during the day and more adult programming at night, which included martial arts movies, adult-oriented animation like the Adult Swim originals, and dramas like The Shield, Birds of Prey, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and action film Point of No Return.[9][10]

Launch
On 9 July 2003, Turner announced that a standalone Toonami channel would replace CNX beginning in September 2003 and move to the kids section on the EPG, with a Turner spokesperson citing the adult market being "crowded and competitive" as the reason for the channel's closure.[11]

On 1 September, it was officially announced that CNX would rebrand as Toonami on 8 September, and on that day, CNX's slot on all three platforms was moved to the "Kids" sections and relabelled as Toonami, which launched at 6 am on that day.

However, TOM (who was TOM 2, despite America already having switched to TOM 3) was not voiced by Steven Blum (minus when Lockdown aired on the channel in 2003), instead given a new voice actor: Christian Stevenson, otherwise known as DJ BBQ.[12] Stevenson earlier hosted the CNX show Trailer Park alongside Ed Leigh. Previously, when Toonami was still a block on Cartoon Network UK, the block used TOM 1 and had a voice similar to Tansit from Space Ghost Coast to Coast narrating in its bumpers, which many fans believed to be TOM's voice.[13]

In 2005, Toonami was added to the TV and video on demand kids' package for VNL's HomeChoice (now TalkTalk TV). Broadcasting for the channel involved using advanced MPEG-4 compression technology, the first TV channel in the world to do so.[14]

On 6 March 2006, Toonami changed its focus from action cartoons to entertainment in general, as the channel moved to Sky 602 and began airing eight live-action shows: Backyard Science, Artzooka!, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Stencil, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Andy Ritcher Controls the Universe, Blue Water High and Life with Derek. also live action movies such as the Back To The Future trilogy. Additionally, the entire design of the channel was overhauled, with the stark, simplistic black, white and red logos replaced with blue, as well as the introduction of giggling, blob-like mascots that populated the channel's bumpers and idents.

In January 2007 this plan was considered a failure, and on a last ditch effort to save the channel, the animes Naruto Shippuden, Neon Genesis Evangelion (censored version) and Bleach (also censored) were added to the channel, but this proved too little, too late.

On May 24 2007, the channel was renamed Cartoon Network Too, and added shows from Cartoon Network, however One Piece, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Naruto and Battle B-Daman were retained, CN Too would use the same branding as the main CN channel. Write a forum conversation on May 3 2007 saying "Toonami UK is dead, This was sadly inevitable"