Boomerang Latin America

World Screen Weekly, January 24, 2008

COUNTRIES: 35 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean

LAUNCH DATE: Originally launched July 3, 2001; re-launched on April 3, 2006

OWNERSHIP: Turner Broadcasting System (TBS)

DISTRIBUTION: 17 million households

DESCRIPTION: Boomerang Latin America originally launched in July 2001 as a classic animation network that offered cartoons from Hanna-Barbera and other studios, including The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and The Jetsons. The channel relaunched in April 2006 with a renewed focus on tweens aged 9 to 14, incorporating sitcoms, live-action series and movies into its schedule.

SENIOR VP & GM, CARTOON NETWORK

& BOOMERANG LATIN AMERICA: Barry Koch

VP, CONTENT, ACQUISITIONS & SYNDICATION,

TBS LATIN AMERICA: Cindy Kerr

VP, NEW MEDIA & MARKETING, CARTOON NETWORK

& BOOMERANG LATIN AMERICA: Felipe De Stefani

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Rather than continuing in the classic animation format of its sister U.S. channel, Boomerang Latin America relaunched in 2006 as a contemporary entertainment network designed to appeal to the needs and wants of kids and tweens aged 9 to 14.

According to Cindy Kerr, the VP of content, acquisitions and syndication for TBS Latin America, the tween set plays an important role in the way the channel is programmed. “[Latin America] really is a very demanding market and we are doing our very best to keep up with it. [I] think we’ve got the programming that is going to bring us into being a real contender for the tween audience.”

Boomerang now has three main programming blocks differentiated by color, allowing viewers to easily find what is on air throughout the day. These include orange for the channel’s preschool morning block Mini TV, red for contemporary animation and live action and blue for movies. A range of popular Hollywood live-action and animated films will air on weekdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. There are also several movie blocks on weekends, headlined by the Lights, Camera, Boomerang block on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m.

Boomerang’s schedule leads off with Mini TV, which airs from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. The preschool block features shows such as Dragon, Franny’s Feet, Dive Olly Dive!, Peppa Pig and Curious George. The channel eventually ages up to the “younger middle viewer with some animation and some young live action,” and then actively pursues tweens with programming like novelas, music videos and behind-the-scenes concerts. “Boomerang gets tweens who watch on their own—this is a departure from the traditional family viewing,” notes Kerr.

Latin American acquisitions are also a part of Boomerang’s grid, including the Argentinean soap opera Rincón de Luz and the teen novela Rebelde, from Mexico’s Televisa.

Rebelde debuted on Boomerang in September 2007. Set at a prestigious private boarding high school near Mexico City, the series revolves around a group of students forming a pop band. The actors, who play the members of this band, are also in a real band, abbreviated as RBD.

According to Kerr, the launch of Rebelde has offered the channel various ways of attracting an audience. “Televisa has been fantastic to work with in bringing us the opportunity to go to the concerts [and] go behind the scenes,” acknowledges Kerr. “That is where we are taking Boomerang to another level of being able to get to know the kids behind the actual shows.”

In a further nod to its core tween audience, Boomerang also launched a new segment called BoomBox, featuring music videos from international and local artists such as Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Ricky Martin and others.

Other related music specials included the premiere of BoomBox in Studio with Nikki Clan during the third quarter of last year, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the Mexican band Nikki Clan making the video for “Es hora” (“Fix It Up”), the new song they created especially for Boomerang.

Last October, Boomerang also premiered H20—Just Add Water, an adventure drama about three modern teenage girls who suddenly discover that they have an extraordinary power over water. “This is another [show] that we believe is going to bring the audience to us,” Kerr says. Other successful launches on the channel last year include live-action series like Flight 29 Down and Darcy’s Wild Life.

Kerr is pleased about the evolution of the network. “Boomerang is a fantastic channel and it’s really coming into its own now—it’s probably one of the more active channels we have now for new programming [and] new development; it’s really bringing a new audience to one of our Turner channels.”

WHAT’S NEW: Rolling out in February 2008 is the two-part, four-hour special BoomBox in Studio with RBD, which Boomerang shot with the band RBD in Mexico City this past November.

Airing on February 22 and 29 at 7 p.m., BoomBox in Studio with RBD features the band performing songs exclusively for Boomerang in its studio, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with all the band members and footage from the concert in Mexico City.

WEBSITES: www.boomerangla.com/english/

www.boomerangla.com/spanish/

www.boomerangla.com/portuguese

—By Irene Lew