TORONTO – Fans of classic animation from Rocky and Bullwinkle to The Jetsons, Mighty Mouse and Rocket Robin Hood will soon have a steady place to turn to on the dial, hopes Teletoon.
The company is in discussions with several Canadian cable and satellite operators to launch Teletoon Retro, a new digital category two specialty service, this year, Teletoon president Len Cochrane told Cartt.ca on Monday.
While he declined to say when it might launch since negotiations are still ongoing, Cochrane anticipates this will be a digital channel with a wide reach. The company has a ton of library material (some of which airs on Teletoon and Télétoon) and Cochrane figures the channel "will appeal to the broadest possible demographic."
In testing, the boomer crowd, kids and those in between all still enjoy Bugs Bunny, for example, he added.
What’s neat is how the older cartoons reflect a time gone by.
George Jetson, for example, unapologetically unwinds from work with a smoke and a martini, something no cartoon dad would be permitted to do these days.
"Some of them are not politically correct," says Cochrane. "That was just the way things were then and that’s the way we’ll be showing them – classic and uncut."
– Greg O’Brien
