Cartoon Network channel errors (1995 – 2025)
cnas.fandom.com74 points by Pikamander2 8 hours ago
74 points by Pikamander2 8 hours ago
I completely understand the kind of mind that would catalog such a thing.
This wouldn't be my thing to catalog, but I'm glad somebody did it.
As a kid i remember being fascinated by technical difficulties screens, EAS tests, etc. Generally anything that unwittingly revealed the technical aspects of running a broadcast station. This was before we really knew how to use the internet even, so for many years, I'd wonder what a screen saying "No Access Card" or "Coriogen Eclipse" meant. When we learned about Google, it was suddenly a very educational experience to google these things and learn what was going on behind the scenes. I'm a software engineer today, but surely the nearest parallel universe version of me grew up to be a broadcast engineer.
If people are watching your work closely enough to document errors in it, and they care enough to make a wiki page, you’re doing truly great work.
Yes exactly. And this is an incredibly short list. Great engineering over there.
Preach.
And now compare to modern endless stream of junk that flows into oblivion.
TIL that showing a screenbug on the screen was an absolute pain. Also TIL what a screenbug is.
You mean that channel that plays nothing but "Teen Titans Go"?
I’m suddenly reminded of a fairly large channel error from one of CN’s competitors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_Games_and_Sports_f...
When Nick GAS shut down, somehow, Dish Network had an automated loop of the channel that they themselves kept running for about 15 months after the channel’s demise. I’m curious what systems at Dish Network were still running a ghost channel by itself like that. Did they just get delivered loops of programming to shove on the air from Nick directly and just leave it up? I would have figured Dish would have been getting a feed from Viacom that would have dropped at the same time as GAS itself.
I suppose it makes sense if your channel doesn't have a lot of new or live programming to just send a tape instead of setting up a feed.
I always wondered about these types of channels back then, that had absolutely no original programming, and very few if any commercials. What was the plan with them? Were they just trying to keep brand familiarity? Was it so difficult to get a channel spot that they didn't want to lose it? But if so, why go through all the hassle to get the spot with no income stream?
Weirdly GAS was a popular channel back in the day but was offered only on higher tier cable packages (in my market, it required Digital Cable, which meant hoping your parents were willing to splurge for the extra package, the digital box (or boxes)…). I assume the income stream was more being delivered from offering GAS as a ‘premium’ channel, then eventually it became an automated vehicle that just got lumped into a “bundle” of channels being sold to the cable companies (eg “Buy Nick for your customers and we’ll throw in GAS and Jr”) once they stopped providing actual live content for it circa 2004-2005.
Hats off to you sir
But how ?
And why?
Sometimes it's just amazing to look at how much dedication someone put into a list like this, and wonder what they do with this information. It's inspiring (to me at least.)
In a park near my hotel, there's an elderly gentleman who uses a giant brush to paint calligraphy on concrete walkways every morning. He paints it with water - so it gradually evaporates over the course of the next hour or so. I admire his work in the same way I admire this web page.
The table of events reminded me of an SCP article, except without any sort of buildup towards something supernatural.
I am guessing someone who works at the station shared some internal documents.
I remember in the mid 90s watching Nickelodeon before school and they played an entire 30m block of commercials instead of a program. They probably lost the tape or something.
I can imagine that it used to be valuable information for advertisers or respectively for the channel as preparation for advertisers complaints.
There are definitely outside organizations whose sole responsibility is to monitor TV/radio broadcasts and nowadays even podcast sponsor breaks to ensure that ad copy is inserted as agreed. (Source: I was contracted to do some of that work for a time.)