Dragon Ball's Argentinian broadcast history

[Tian]

After commenting to The CureDragon255 about the ZTV airing in another topic, I thought it would be nice to share information about the franchise's broadcast history in my country.

For obvious reasons, I'll be excluding the broadcast history from CN LATAM and Warner Channel.

And yes, I'm aware that GEN TV has been airing both Dragon Ball Z and Super, but I won't include it since that's a pirated broadcast.

1995: ATC

A couple of years before Magic Kids premiered the franchise in Argentina, there was an attempt of airing it from ATC (currently TV Pública), the country's main broadcaster.

Technically speaking, this would be the first time that Dragon Ball was seen in Argentinian TV but it wouldn't be the first complete run, as ATC only aired few episodes before pulling it from the schedule due to COMFER's intervention. COMFER stands for Comite Federal de Radiodifusión (Federal Radiodiffusion Comitee)

Unfortunately, there are no recordings nor much detailed information of this airing, and some stories from people who claim to have seen it tend to be contradictory or sketchy.

So far, the only official and most reliable reference of this brief airing of the original Dragon Ball series is a testimony from Jorge Contreras, Magic Kids' founder and programming director:

"I remembered that show was already premiered in Argentina, but it had a bad experience in Canal 7 [one of TV Publica's many names]. They censored it for being unappropiate content. I knew it was doing well, but it was pulled and couldn't be shown"

Based on the airing date, it is very likely that the OG Dragon Ball dub shown was Zero y el Dragón Mágico, which was initally based on the Harmony Gold dub.

Another show of the broadcaster called Top Kids also aired segments of
some Dragon Ball Z movies in its European Spanish dubbed version.

1997-2004: Magic Kids

Two years after ATC's failed attempt, Magic Kids adquires Dragon Ball and this time, with the well known Salgado / Intertrack dub.
Due to what happened on ATC, Jorge Contreras, decided to edit the episodes in order to avoid problems with COMFER:

"In episode 13, one of the characters (Master Roshi) ask for the panties of one of the protagonists (Bulma) as a prize for having gathered all the Dragon Balls. I had to edit it to avoid problems with COMFER and since then, I decided to watch every episode. I saw all the 500 episodes [Yeah, we, the Argentinians sometimes exaggerate amounts.] to avoid problems and many hated me because I cut scenes."

Despite this, Magic Kids' airing was a success due to the channel giving the series several time slots during the day (7:30 / 13:00 / 19:00 / 0:00) and it quickly earned a flagship status within the channel. In May 1998, the success would be even bigger when Dragon Ball Z was premiered in the channel, and it was followed by Dragon Ball GT, which was premiered in September 2000.

The channel aired a lot of advertising of the franchise, from sticker albums to trailers for the movies which were premiered here in cinemas (movies 3,8 and for some reason, movies 9 & 12 combined). Here's one of those trailers (movie 3 trailer)

El Club del Animé (The Anime's Club) was an anime oriented program hosted by Leandro Oberto (initially) and Mariela Carril (rest of show's run) which also aired in Magic Kids and as such, Dragon Ball would be one of the many topics seen in that program. There were times where El Club del Anime
would show "unseen" material from the franchise(DBGT's second ending, which was never used in LatAm)

Everything went well until... September 2001, when Magic Kids, as response to the socio-economic crisis that Argentina had at the time, decided to expand the channel to the Latin American region, this unfortunately led to several anime series including the Dragon Ball franchise leaving the channel since their licenses were only for Argentinian airing.

To make matters worse, in December 2001, The already fragile socio-economic of Argentina situation hit its bottom and as a result, the currency was devaluated.

This would affect Magic Kids severely, because "Las latas" (the foreign shows) had their price triplicated due to the new conversion rate.
And because of that, Magic Kids faced both financial problems and decline in ratings due to a lot of cartoon and anime shows leaving the channel and being replaced by more cheaper options.

As a response to the low ratings, Magic Kids would create in 2002, a separate feed for the AMBA (Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area) and acquired Dragon Ball GT again, only for airing in that area. The OG DB series would also later be aired again in the same feed in 2004.

Magic Kids would eventually close in 2006. The Dragon Ball franchise was no longer airing when the channel closed.

1999-2002: Azul Toon on Azul TV



Azul Toon was a one-hour programming block aired on Azul TV (currently Canal 9) and it was hosted by Micaela Anastasio and Ramiro Rodriguez. It was initally aired on weekdays at 12:00 with reruns on weekends at 22:00. At some point in 2002, it got a weekdays at 17:30 airing. Dragon Ball Z was one of the anime series shown in the block.

2012-2015: ZTV on Telefe



The Dragon Ball franchise wouldn't be seen again in Argentinian TV until 2012.

On July 4, 2012, ZTV, a children morning programming block on Telefe started airing Dragon Ball Z. It was aired everyday on the block with all the 291 episodes aired.

There was no permanent timeslot since ZTV also featured its own puppet sketches which varied in duration (some shorter, others longer) but Dragon Ball Z would often be the first thing aired (mostly at 6:50) after the initial puppet sketch.

Special Thanks
Gashaponista: Information about ATC's airing (Gracias por la data, compa.)

[Koitsukai]

I recall Channel 9 "Canal 9 Libertad" also airing DBZ by the late 90s, some time after the show took over the country on Magic Kids, probably 1999 or maybe 2000. Everybody followed the show on Magic Kids, but if you didn't have cable TV, Canal 9 was your only hope.

I remember they were way behind Magic Kids' episode schedule and they would start over quite often, it was a drag to follow the show on that channel. I think they never went past the Cell arc.

[Tian]

I recall Channel 9 "Canal 9 Libertad" also airing DBZ by the late 90s, some time after the show took over the country on Magic Kids, probably 1999 or maybe 2000. Everybody followed the show on Magic Kids, but if you didn't have cable TV, Canal 9 was your only hope.

I remember they were way behind Magic Kids' episode schedule and they would start over quite often, it was a drag to follow the show on that channel. I think they never went past the Cell arc.

What a coincidence, by the time you were writing this comment, I was adding the Azul Toon broadcast I forgot.

But thanks for the bit about the block not airing beyond the Cell Arc, I didn't know that one. I'll add it now.

[Koitsukai]

Oh, it was Azul TV, yeah, I thought it was 9 Libertad, memory slipping again.

And don't take my word for it, I think they never went beyond the Cell arc, but because it took a long time for Magic Kids to get there, and Azul TV was always a step or two behind them, and I never watched it there for more than a couple of times, didn't know anybody that faithfully watched it on Azul TV either. Maybe they did go beyond the Cell arc, I don't think they did, but honestly I have no idea.

[Tian]

Oh, it was Azul TV, yeah, I thought it was 9 Libertad, memory slipping again.

And don't take my word for it, I think they never went beyond the Cell arc, but because it took a long time for Magic Kids to get there, and Azul TV was always a step or two behind them, and I never watched it there for more than a couple of times, didn't know anybody that faithfully watched it on Azul TV either. Maybe they did go beyond the Cell arc, I don't think they did, but honestly I have no idea.

Oh...

Don't worry. It's understandable. It was over 20 years ago and yeah, Magic Kids' run eclipsed it a lot, so the Azul Toon's run is more remembered by people who didn't have Magic Kids (although some people from some areas have claimed that Magic was also aired by air. I think it must have been a illegal broadcast like the satellite one in some countries like Peru, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador, years before the panregionalization)

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Hey, this is a great topic .

Interesting you say stories from fans who claim to have seen the series on ATC are contradictory. I can relate as no one knows for sure how often the short-lived CNX channel here switched between the Funimation and Westwood dubs.

I know Dragon Ball is massive in Latin America, so I'm looking forward to reading all the stories Argentinan fans have to offer.

[Tian]

Hey, this is a great topic .

Interesting you say stories from fans who claim to have seen the series on ATC are contradictory. I can relate as no one knows for sure how often the short-lived CNX channel here switched between the Funimation and Westwood dubs.

I know Dragon Ball is massive in Latin America, so I'm looking forward to reading all the stories Argentinan fans have to offer.

Yeah, there's some sort of Mandela effect with the ATC broadcast. Besides the ones who mention it was aired on Top Kids, there are others that say what was aired on ATC were the Z movies but I think they are mixing it up with the fact that a newspaper sold VHS of Z movies here in the mid 90s (of course, with the European Spanish dub because the Latin Spanish dub of those movies weren't made until 1998-1999)

And thanks!

[Cure Dragon 255]

I cant believe I didnt post in this thread! Its awesome.

Oh and btw one thing many people dont know is that the ratings for kids channels in latin america dont seem high... like Cartoon Network only has 0,55% of the total population... until you realize that's the standard for most cable channels anyway. Local television rules supreme and CN is still the highest rated kids channel anyway.

https://www.anmtvla.com/2023/09/argenti ... canal.html

https://warnermedialatam.com/wmforbrand ... petidores/

[Gashaponista]

Hey, this is a great topic .

Interesting you say stories from fans who claim to have seen the series on ATC are contradictory. I can relate as no one knows for sure how often the short-lived CNX channel here switched between the Funimation and Westwood dubs.

I know Dragon Ball is massive in Latin America, so I'm looking forward to reading all the stories Argentinan fans have to offer.

Yeah, there's some sort of Mandela effect with the ATC broadcast. Besides the ones who mention it was aired on Top Kids, there are others that say what was aired on ATC were the Z movies but I think they are mixing it up with the fact that a newspaper sold VHS of Z movies here in the mid 90s (of course, with the European Spanish dub because the Latin Spanish dub of those movies weren't made until 1998-1999)

And thanks!

I can't believe I never saw this post before!! I love it!
Thank you for making this compilation.

What I can contribute to clarify the ATC issue, is that they did broadcast parts of Z movies (a friend showed it to me on a VHS that he recorded from TV) with the Spanish dubbing from Spain (it was the first time I heard "Onda Vital" haha).
That was long before Intertrack Mexico started translating even DBZ episodes.

PS: I can confirm at least the Dr Willow and Slug films aired in several segments.

[Tian]

I can't believe I never saw this post before!! I love it!
Thank you for making this compilation.

What I can contribute to clarify the ATC issue, is that they did broadcast parts of Z movies (a friend showed it to me on a VHS that he recorded from TV) with the Spanish dubbing from Spain (it was the first time I heard "Onda Vital" haha).
That was long before Intertrack Mexico started translating even DBZ episodes.

PS: I can confirm at least the Dr Willow and Slug films aired in several segments.

1) You're welcome.

2) Thanks a lot! That's really helpful info since the sources I've found about the movies airing on ATC were as contradictory as the ones from Top Kids.

They either said they were aired in their full version on Saturdays afternoons like this La Nacion article claims or in segments in "shitty" timeslots like this guy says.

Now with your post, I see that the second source wasn't as far-fetched as I previously thought (except for the non-existent Big Channel airing mentioned there)

[Koitsukai]

25 years too late but damn, imagine watching DB Magic on Magic Kids.
If the channel had merchandising back then, they would go nuts with this show.

[Gashaponista]

I can't believe I never saw this post before!! I love it!
Thank you for making this compilation.

What I can contribute to clarify the ATC issue, is that they did broadcast parts of Z movies (a friend showed it to me on a VHS that he recorded from TV) with the Spanish dubbing from Spain (it was the first time I heard "Onda Vital" haha).
That was long before Intertrack Mexico started translating even DBZ episodes.

PS: I can confirm at least the Dr Willow and Slug films aired in several segments.

1) You're welcome.

2) Thanks a lot! That's really helpful info since the sources I've found about the movies airing on ATC were as contradictory as the ones from Top Kids.

They either said they were aired in their full version on Saturdays afternoons like this La Nacion article claims or in segments in "shitty" timeslots like this guy says.

Now with your post, I see that the second source wasn't as far-fetched as I previously thought (except for the non-existent Big Channel airing mentioned there)

I asked my friend if he could digitize his VHS, but he told me he doesn't have it anymore.
On the positive side, he shared a YouTube link that shows something similar to what he had recorded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnmLd-1E1aI
(I paste the link as text, because I don't know how to share it as a video in this forum... sorry)

[Tian]

I asked my friend if he could digitize his VHS, but he told me he doesn't have it anymore.
On the positive side, he shared a YouTube link that shows something similar to what he had recorded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnmLd-1E1aI
(I paste the link as text, because I don't know how to share it as a video in this forum... sorry)

Wonderful! So, the stories about DB content airing on Top Kids were somewhat true.

Somewhat because they mistakenly said that OG DB series was aired on that show and not the movies but anyway, thank you for this big contribution. I'll add it to the topic as soon as my phones charges up a little. I'm running out of battery right now...