Spacetoon is a pan-Arab free-to-air television channel that specializes in animation and children's programs. It began broadcasting on 15 March 2000 and is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with offices in Riyadh. The channel targets children aged four and up, while its late-night block, Space Power, is aimed at teenagers and young adults. The Spacetoon company also maintains a video-on-demand app called Spacetoon Go and has had two now-defunct channels in the Arab world, Space Power TV and Spacetoon English.

The main Indonesian channel began airing on 24 March 2005 in Jakarta. It later became NET. and continues to broadcast via satellite. Currently, there are three Spacetoon channels in Indonesia: Spacetoon, Space Shopping, and Spacetoon Plus. In India, Spacetoon India exists as a licensing company rather than a separate TV channel. Spacetoon launched in South Korea in 2005 but has since closed down. Spacetoon is currently broadcast in 22 countries and has an audience of over 130 million viewers.

History — Arab world:
In 1999, Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation signed an agreement to broadcast a children's cartoon channel. On 15 March 2000, Spacetoon officially launched as a seven-hour block. According to the Ministry, it continued to air in this format until the contract ended on 12 January 2002. Later, in 2004, Spacetoon moved its headquarters to Dubai and was established as an independent channel on Nilesat, broadcasting 24/7. In the Arab world, most programs are dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic. Spacetoon is closely affiliated with Venus Center, a Syrian dubbing company that has historically provided the Arabic dubbed versions of its programming. Using Modern Standard Arabic in dubbing played a crucial role in preserving the language among children, especially given the emergence of regional spoken Arabic dialects.

In Indonesia, Spacetoon officially launched on 24 March 2005. The network was founded by H. Sukoyo, co-founder of TV7. At launch, Spacetoon broadcast from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. WIB; later the schedule extended from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. When programming ended, a 10-minute segment of animation, songs, or messages for children was shown. In mid-2011, due to financial problems, Spacetoon began airing some home-shopping and alternative medicine programs. In March 2013, Net Visi Media acquired 95% of Spacetoon's ownership stakes. On 18 May 2013, Spacetoon ceased terrestrial broadcasts to make way for NET on the terrestrial network, while it continued to broadcast in Indonesia via satellite television. In September 2014, Spacetoon split into two channels: Spacetoon and Spacetoon 2. Spacetoon 2 aired more cartoons and animated series than Spacetoon, although it also carried some home-shopping programs. In May 2016, Spacetoon added another channel, Spacetoon 3. It had clearer audio than Spacetoon and Spacetoon 2, but was closed down in October of the same year. In November 2016, Spacetoon 2 was renamed Space Shopping because home-shopping programs contributed the most revenue to the channel, which otherwise had little income. Currently, Spacetoon has three channels in Indonesia: Spacetoon, Space Shopping, and Spacetoon Plus.

Programming planets
Each program was divided into blocks called "planets", one for each genre:
- Action Planet (أکشن) — planet of excitement and mystery; for action series such as Dragon Ball and Iron Kid.
- Sport Planet (رياضة) — planet of challenge and strength; for sports series and programs such as Inazuma Eleven.
- Adventures Planet (مغامرات) — planet of imagination and thrill; for adventure series such as Future Boy Conan.
- Comedy Planet (كوميديا) — planet of laughter; for comedy series such as Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry Kids, and The Pink Panther.
- Movies Planet (أفلام) — planet of all colors; for animated movies.
- Abjad Planet (أبجد) — planet of numbers and letters; for educational programs such as Pappyland.
- Bon Bon Planet (بون بون) — planet of heroes and adults; for preschool programs such as Thomas & Friends. History Planet (تاريخ; "planet of time immemorial") — formerly used from 2000 to 2013 — features historical series such as Liberty's Kids. Science Planet (علوم; "planet of discovery and knowledge") airs educational science programs such as Inspector Gadget's Field Trip. Zomoroda Planet (زمردة; "emerald") is a planet just for girls, featuring series and programs like Magical Princess Minky Momo.

Programs aired on Spacetoon are sometimes censored from their source material. Scenes may be cropped or truncated to avoid showing excessive violence, as seen in Detective Conan, Romeo's Blue Skies, and Hunter × Hunter. Hunter × Hunter was also altered to remove depictions of Zen Buddhism and Taoism related to characters' powers; the censored version presents those powers instead as science and martial art. Selective cropping and editing are also used to hide cleavages and remove innuendo. See also:
- Animation International
- Game Power 7 (game publisher owned by Spacetoon)
- Spacetoon Go

References / Sources / External links:
- Spacetoon Arabic website (Spacetoon Arabic page)
- Spacetoon Indonesia website (Spacetoon Indonesia page)

Categories:
- Mass media companies of the United Arab Emirates
- Arabic-language television stations
- Children's television networks
- Television channels and stations established in 2000
- 2003 establishments in the United Arab Emirates
- Anime companies
- Fictional planets
- Preschool education television networks