Adult Swim’s turbulent history in Latin America

Adult Swim has become one of the most recognizable names in the history of American television since MTV. So it’s only natural that the channel would want to expand internationally. Versions of Adult Swim exist (or previously existed) in various countries, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, France, and Russia. Unlike in the U.S., however, many of these international versions are carried on other channels instead of Cartoon Network. Canada even went so far as to launch a 24-hour Adult Swim channel. While these international versions of Adult Swim have seen varying degrees of success, none have faced the difficulty of Adult Swim trying to establish itself in Latin America.

Adult Swim was first introduced to Latin American audiences in October of 2005, as a block on Cartoon Network. The block aired from Friday to Sunday from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., with an encore presentation running until 5:00 a.m. The block featured shows such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, The Venture Bros., Sealab 2021, Baby Blues, Undergrads, Robot Chicken, and Home Movies. Initial reception to the block was rather, ah, lukewarm compared to its American counterpart. Parents in particular weren’t exactly thrilled about the idea of an adult block on a children’s channel, which lead to the Chilean cable company VTR to censor the block entirely until early 2007. Anime enthusiasts in Latin America were also disappointed when they found out this version of Adult Swim didn’t carry anime, unlike its American counterpart. The fact that the block received virtually no advertising didn’t help matters either. By 2008, Adult Swim had completely vanished from Cartoon Network in the region. It had, however, found a new home on I.Sat.

I.Sat is a (now defunct) pay-television channel based in Argentina, with a focus on indie and arthouse cinema, and targeted towards a young adult and urban audience. Adult Swim initially aired on the channel from Monday and Wednesday at 10:00 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 a.m. Beginning in September of 2008, Adult Swim’s run-time was restricted to Tuesdays through Fridays from 1:30 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. The schedule was modified again in 2009, airing only on Thursdays and Fridays at midnight. The schedule was modified once again in January of 2010, broadcasting Monday through Friday at 3:00 a.m., and reduced to just one hour of run-time. The I.Sat block finally gave anime fans what they were looking for and became the first Latin American incarnation of Adult Swim to air anime titles like Trigun, Samurai Champloo, and Gungrave. Nevertheless, the block continued to struggle with ratings, and in December of 2010, it was finally canceled.

Adult Swim would return to I.Sat in 2015, this time with a one hour time slot at 10:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. in Peru). However, during the block’s absence on the channel, I.Sat had enacted new language policies. This meant that Adult Swim would be broadcast in English, with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles. The block would remain on I.Sat until April of 2020, when it was once again cancelled, this time permanently. It was during its run on I.Sat that Adult Swim introduced its flagship show Rick and Morty to Latin American audiences for the first time. Adult Swim would also air on the Latin American version of TBS from 2018 to 2020 on Friday nights and weekends in a one-hour midnight slot. Unlike the I.Sat version, the TBS version was dubbed with Spanish/Portuguese audio.

In May of 2020, Adult Swim began airing on the Warner Channel Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays at midnight, until September of 2020 when it switched to Mondays only. The Warner Channel era debuted several Adult Swim programs to the region for the first time, such as Final Space, Mr. Pickles, Primal, Metalocalypse, and The Shivering Truth. Once again, the block was cancelled in 2021.

Finally, in August of 2023, a 24-hour Adult Swim channel was announced for the region, the second of its kind after the Canadian version. The channel premiered in October of the same year. The channel replaced TruTV, which had existed in the region for 14 years. The channel currently has two transmission feeds: one for Mexico and Brazil, and a “Pan-Regional” feed for the rest of the countries. Shows with TV-MA ratings can be broadcast throughout the day on the Mexico and Brazil feeds, but can only be shown after 10:00 p.m. on the Pan-Regional feed, due to broadcasting restrictions in countries such as Chile and Argentina. The channel also saw the resurrection of the Toonami block, which had previously aired on Cartoon Network as recently as 2022.

Currently, the programming on Adult Swim Latin America can be divided into four main categories: Adult Swim originals (Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken, Primal, Smiling Friends, etc.), Checkered Past (Cow and Chicken, Dexter’s Laboratory, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Ed, Edd n’ Eddy), Toonami (Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and Death Note,) and DC Universe (Harley Quinn, Batman: The Animated Series, and Young Justice). The channel also airs a weekly block of movies from the DC Animated Universe, such as Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and Justice League: Doom. The channel also features its own unique bumpers, which focus on the perpetually-late programming director Tincho.

But has this latest incarnation of Adult Swim arrived too late? While there are doubtlessly fans of Adult Swim in Latin America who are overjoyed at seeing the channel’s return, let’s face it: cable television is dying, even in Latin America. And since the majority of Adult Swim’s programming was already available on HBO Max before the channel’s introduction, many Latin Americans already rely on it for their Adult Swim needs. Maybe Adult Swim’s latest incarnation in Latin America won’t be killed by easily-offended parents, but by the obsolesence of cable television. Time will only tell if this latest version of Adult Swim will perform better than its previous counterparts.