As CNX Originally, Toonami was featured as a programming block on
Cartoon Network, which ended in June 2002. This was to allow Turner to launch a standalone male-oriented network. On 24 September 2002, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced that it would launch a new offshoot network named CNX on 14 October. CNX would be the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America. The channel was initially available on
Sky Digital and
NTL:home. Unlike Turner's other children's networks, CNX was classified as a general entertainment network aimed towards a 16-34-year-old male audience. CNX's daytime slot mainly consisted of action shows from Cartoon Network's lineup such as
Batman of the Future,
X-Men Evolution,
Dragon Ball Z and
Samurai Jack, alongside a magazine series entitled
Trailer Park which featured the latest video games, media, extreme sports content and other media. CNX's nighttime slot mainly consisted of adult-oriented animation (mainly original shows from
Adult Swim),
martial arts movies, and dramas such as
The Shield,
Birds of Prey, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue,
Space Ghost Coast to Coast and
Cowboy Bebop, while films included
Point of No Return (1993), and
Death Race 2000 (1975). 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. They earned a place in the 2002
Guinness World Records, a £5,000 cash prize, and £2,000 in audio-visual equipment. Following the channel's launch, Turner was in negotiations with
Telewest to add the channel to their Active Digital cable service, and it was soon added on 15 January 2003. In April,
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. While the daytime slot was initially branded under the CNX banner, by 2003, it was rebranded under the Toonami name, while the CNX brand remained for the evening. This would soon prove to become the channel's most popular strand.
As Toonami 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 was "crowded and competitive" as the reason for its closure. 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 1 am and its slot on all platforms was moved to the "Kids" sections and relabeled as Toonami, which launched at 6 am on that day. The new version of Toonami would air much of the same programmes as before, with new additions including
Ultimate Muscle and
Star Wars: Clone Wars. TOM returned as the channel's mascot, appearing as TOM 2, and was voiced by Christian Stevenson, otherwise known as
DJ BBQ. 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. 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.
Refocus on Live Action shows In February 2006, Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced that Toonami would receive a new refreshed look on 6 March and would be restructured as a general entertainment network to broaden its appeal. As such, the channel's slot on Sky Digital was moved to 602 (next to Cartoon Network), and being the first Turner-owned children's network to air live-action shows. The new graphics package would see 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. Toonami favourites such as
The Batman,
Pokémon,
Justice League,
Teen Titans and
Static Shock remained in the channel's schedule, mixed-in with new live-action shows such as
Backyard Science,
Blue Water High,
Life with Derek, ''
Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Stencil''. Following the rebranding, Turner announced plans to add live-action programmes to their other channels across the world, with the Latin American version of
Boomerang being rebranded similarly as a general entertainment youth network, but unlike Toonami UK, it would be more focused towards a female market.
Merger with Cartoon Network Too On 2 May 2007, Turner announced that Toonami would cease operations on 24 May and its EPG slot would be taken over by
Cartoon Network Too. This was to allow a full-time
Cartoonito channel to launch in Cartoon Network Too's original slot on Sky. On May 24, Toonami ceased operations at 3:00 am and Cartoon Network Too moved into the space shortly afterwards. Since its closure, the action animated programming were moved to Cartoon Network Too, while few of the live-action programming were moved to
Boomerang. ==2006 power outage==