About Toon-A-Vision

Toon-A-Vision

Overview

Toon-A-Vision is a Canadian English-language television channel devoted to animated programming for children, from preschoolers to teenagers. Owned by Atlantic Digital Networks and headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, it is one of the few independently owned national children's channels in Canada — a small Atlantic Canadian company operating in a segment dominated by large Toronto-based broadcast groups. The channel's name is a portmanteau of "cartoon" and "television." Its schedule mixes Canadian-produced animation with acquired series from around the world, broadcast in high definition (720p) with a standard-definition feed. Toon-A-Vision launched in 2018 as an exempt service on the Eastlink cable systems, grew past the subscriber threshold that requires a full CRTC licence, and was licensed as a discretionary service in 2020.

History

Toon-A-Vision's roots go back to 2014, when Atlantic Digital Networks obtained a Category B exemption from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a proposed television service called "Atlantic Cartoon." Under the CRTC's exemption regime — formalized in the exemption order for discretionary television programming undertakings serving fewer than 200,000 subscribers (Broadcasting Order CRTC 2015-88) — small discretionary services could operate without a licence so long as they stayed below that subscriber ceiling. The channel was developed in conjunction with Huminah Huminah Animation, the Halifax animation studio, and launched — now under the name Toon-A-Vision — on Eastlink cable systems across Canada in high definition on June 19, 2018. Trade coverage at launch described it as a new Canadian free cable TV service, and noted its first programming partnerships, including the series Bat Pat. A company announcement that October promoted it as a new kids and family channel broadcasting from Nova Scotia, at a time when nationally distributed Canadian channels based in Atlantic Canada were — and remain — uncommon.

Growth brought regulation. On July 15, 2019, having surpassed the subscriber threshold for exempt services, Atlantic Digital Networks asked the CRTC to transfer the channel to a full broadcasting licence. The application proceeded through a public consultation opened by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2020-54 on February 10, 2020, and in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2020-321 the Commission approved a licence for the national, English-language discretionary service (spelled "ToonAvision" in the decision), effective September 1, 2020. With licensing, the service became subject to the Discretionary Services Regulations and to the distribution requirements of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, replacing the lighter reporting regime it had operated under as an exempt service. The licence was issued under the Commission's standard requirements for television stations, discretionary services and on-demand services, set out in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-436. Carriage expanded in step: Bell added the channel to its satellite TV and Fibe TV services on December 5, 2019, and Cogeco launched it on its platforms on April 22, 2020, an expansion covered by the trade publication TV Kids. The channel thus went, in under two years, from a regional exempt service carried by one Atlantic-based distributor to a licensed national channel carried by three of Canada's largest television providers.

Programming and Content

Toon-A-Vision broadcasts animated programming aimed at preschoolers and teenagers, as its licence application and CRTC decision describe, mixing Canadian series with international acquisitions. Canadian titles in its lineup have included the Halifax-produced Chilly Beach, Yam Roll, Maple Shorts and I'm a Dinosaur — several of them associated with the channel's development partner, Huminah Huminah Animation — alongside series such as Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist, My Goldfish Is Evil!, Kagagi: The Raven and Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy. Acquired series have included Danger Mouse, Talking Tom & Friends, Doki, The Hive, Chuck Chicken, Chaotic, Tenkai Knights, Redakai and the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, whose acquisition the trade press reported in April 2019, the same month the channel picked up Doki. The published lineup spans the full span of its target audience: preschool series such as Toopy and Binoo, Kate & Mim-Mim, Stella & Sam and Chirp sit alongside action and comedy titles for older children such as Danger Mouse, Skyland, Grojband and Wild Grinders. Other series documented in its schedules include ABC Monsters, Albi the Snowman, Buzz Bumble, Dragamonz, Ghosts of Time, GoGo Dino Explorers, Hatchimals: Adventures in Hatchtopia, I.N.K. Invisible Network of Kids, Kikoriki, Mofy, Origanimals, Pet Alien, Pin Code, Sindbad & the 7 Galaxies, Smighties, The Fairytaler, Timeblazers, Tina and Tony, Toot the Tiny Tugboat and Zo Zo Zombie, while earlier schedules also carried well-known library titles such as Pingu, Kipper, Horrid Henry, Little Princess, Monster High and The Big Comfy Couch. Reruns added in 2021 included The Adventures of Annie & Ben and Bat Pat. The channel's website publishes a "What's On Now" guide; titles featured there include Moka, Toopy and Binoo, Kate & Mim-Mim, Ricky Sprocket, Danger Mouse, Future Chicken, Wishfart, Chirp, Origanimals and Stella & Sam. Alongside the broadcast schedule, the site offers "Play-At-Home" activities for young viewers built around its programs, including The Game Catchers.

Audience and Reach

Toon-A-Vision is a discretionary service carried nationally. Its founding distributor was Eastlink, which lists the channel in its Kids Zone package (channel 749 in Eastlink's July 2025 channel packages) and continues to list it in its current business television packages, including its TiVo channel packaging for business customers, and it is also carried by Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV and Cogeco. The clearest public measure of its early growth is regulatory rather than commercial: by July 2019, roughly a year after launch, the channel had passed the 200,000-subscriber ceiling for exempt services, obliging it to obtain the full licence it now holds. No audience ratings for the channel are published, and none are claimed here.

Digital Presence

The channel's website, toonavision.tv, carries its current schedule through a "What's On Now" section, program highlights and a "Play-At-Home" section of downloadable activities for children, including activity sheets built around series such as The Game Catchers — a modest but genuine extension of the channel's preschool and family remit beyond the broadcast day. It has a modest social and web footprint compared with the large children's brands, consistent with its position as an independent service whose viewing is primarily through traditional television distribution.

Ownership and Organisation

Toon-A-Vision is owned by Atlantic Digital Networks Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia — the licensee named in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2020-321 — making it a rarity in Canadian television: a nationally distributed specialty channel controlled from Atlantic Canada rather than Toronto. The company worked with Huminah Huminah Animation in developing the channel, and its programming strategy has leaned on partnerships with independent producers and distributors, with acquisitions announced through the international children's television market. The channel's survival and expansion are notable against the direction of the wider Canadian children's television business in 2025, when Corus Entertainment closed its Nickelodeon channel on September 1, 2025 and WildBrain announced the closure of its Family Channel group of networks, leaving fewer dedicated children's services on Canadian television.

Contact and Availability

Toon-A-Vision is available in high definition (720p) and standard definition on Eastlink (including channel 749 in its Kids Zone package), Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV and Cogeco systems. Its schedule and program information are published at toonavision.tv for viewers and parents. The channel does not publish a general public business email address on its website, so none is listed here.