Events
Take an Unexpected Turner
Rembrandt
Wed., Mar. 7, 2001 16:22
AOL Time Warner announced Tuesday, March 6, that they will combine
Turner Broadcasting (Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS) and The WB into one
broadcasting group under the Turner Broadcasting System umbrella with
the plan to launch new cable networks and share Internet properties.
The new Turner group will be headed by the founder and chief executive
of the WB, Jamie Kellner. He also helped launch the Fox network in
1986, Fox Kids, as well as, Kids' WB!
The formation of this new group will be used as synergy. AOL Time
Warner has already used synergy with it's AOL and Warner Brothers
products. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among
the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that
creates an enhanced combined effect. When new WB movies are released,
AOL offers free chats with actors of WB movies. Another example
is when Netscape software (also owned by AOL Time Warner) is integrated
into WB owned sites, i.e., wbonline.com, time.com, etc.
Now you are probably asking how this affects Kids' WB! and Cartoon
Network. Well, the WSJ.com puts it very simply, "Putting the cable
and broadcast networks into one unit is part of AOL Time Warner's
plan to rerun one program over multiple networks, so WB cartoons
could run on the Cartoon Network, or vice versa. "It is very much
of Kellner's plan to have Cartoon Network and Kids' WB! working
together, through advertising and even sharing series. Kellner calls
it a "no-brainer," that Cartoon Network and Kids' WB! would work
together because "This new structure makes that possible," he said.
Can you imagine "Powerpuff Girls" or "Dragonball Z" on Kids' WB!
or "Men In Black," "Batman Beyond" or "Pokemon" airing on Cartoon
Network? They are strong possibilities.
Another possibility is the launch of a Toonami network. One of
Kellner's top priorities is creating new networks. With the success
of the Toonami programming block currently airing on Cartoon Network
and the fact that Cartoon Network really wants to air adult-themed
animation, but can't because children still watch the network at
late-night (or as Cartoon Network claims), it would make sense that
they might want to launch a Toonami network. Toonami is a block
of action animated series that air on Cartoon Network. For more
information on Toonami, check out one of Toonzone's hosted sites,
CNX run by Jeff Harris. |