Save Looney Tunes on TV

The people in charge of Warner Bros. Television Distribution are certainly unaware of the great injustice going on right under their nose.

As of Fall 2000, Cartoon Network became the sole television rights holder of the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies cartoon short subjects in the United States. This contract has made the cartoons unable to be aired on any other network, such as Nickelodeon or ABC, who aired them faithfully for many years.

As time has gone on, viewers have seen the airtime for Bugs Bunny and his friends continually being reduced as Cartoon Network focuses on their original series. Currently, Cartoon Network airs no classic Looney Tunes material on their schedule at all. The shorts are now buried on the Boomerang network which is available to far fewer people.

This can not be what the people at Warner Bros. expected when they agreed to give CN the exclusive rights. Not only has Cartoon Network ceased their annual highly rated June Bugs marathons as of 2003, but they also did nothing to help promote the big budget feature "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" last year. One wonders if the movie would have been more successful if the cartoons were as accessible to audiences as they were throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

The lack of airtime for the Looney Tunes is also going to hurt Warner Brothers in the long run. Without the television exposure that they used to have, there will soon be an entire generation of children who have no idea who Bugs, Daffy, Porky and Tweety are. Future merchandise and video releases will not be as profitable for the company if things don't change soon. The beloved Warner characters are in danger of becoming as forgotten as Universal's Walter Lantz or Viacom's Terrytoons characters.

Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, and dozens of other characters that set the foundation for American humor as we know it deserve better treatment than the one they are receiving now.

The goal of this petition is to convince Warner Bros. to revoke Cartoon Network's exclusive rights to the Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies film library. Removal of this burden will mean that every person in this nation can once again have access to these wonderful creations. New network negotiations can be formed, such as possibly seeing the shorts again on Nickelodeon, ABC, and in syndication.

Thank you,