Cartoon Network's newest original program endeavor scheduled to hit the airwaves, Class of 3000, will be the center of the television channel's latest multi-media efforts as well. This new animated television series as co-created by André "3000" Benjamin of the musical group OutKast, looks to bring music back to animation in full force. With such high expectations for such a detailed creative project, Cartoon Network will be making sure that animation fans are well aware of the program's debut in the first week of November 2006.

According to a recent press note, Cartoon Network will showcase its most thorough cross-platform effort to date. Content ranges from online sneak previews and streaming episodes to ringtones and an online game where kids can produce their own music, just like André's cartoon character, Sunny Bridges. Class of 3000 was first announced as a hearty creative project at the 2006 Cartoon Network Upfront event, and has since been assigned a debut on the channel on November 3rd, 2006. Now, with multi-platform plans, as detailed below, Class of 3000 looks to be promoted as aggressively as ever.


"In Class of 3000, we have a show that is perfectly suited to a massive multimedia rollout, and that's exactly what we'll be doing," Jim Samples, evp and gm, Cartoon Network stated. "From exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the show to streaming full-length episodes, not to mention downloadable songs, ringtones and podcasts, we're making sure that Class of 3000 has compelling offerings on every available platform."

Class of 3000 is produced by Cartoon Network Studios in association with the Tom Lynch Co. and Benjamin's production company, Moxie. Thomas W. Lynch and André "3000" Benjamin are the executive producers of Class of 3000. Twelve half-hours and a one-hour premiere are in production at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif. The show's co-executive producer and head writer is Patric M. Verrone, a writer for Futurama, The Critic and Pinky and the Brain and a supervising producer on Futurama. Joe Horne (The Boondocks, Teamo Supremo, The Oblongs) serves as supervising producer.

Class of 3000.com: This site is the home for everything related to the new series co-created by André Benjamin and Tom Lynch. Visitors to this section can learn more about all the main characters, like Sunny Bridges and Li'l D, as well as download instant messenger icons and wallpapers. Classof3000.com also includes a complete episode guide, programming information, activities, downloadable content and links to streaming behind-the-scenes and video and full-length episodes of Class of 3000.

Class of 3000 Funk Box: Class of 3000is all about making music, so Cartoon Network New Media has developed the Class of 3000 Funk Box. This online activity, available on Classof3000.com beginning October 23rd, 2006 will allow kids to create their very own songs by dragging numerous musical samples onto tracks and hearing them played back. The activity will feature all key characters and will correlate them to the instruments they play on the show. Kids are encouraged to save their songs along the way for later retrieval and/or editing.

Video-on-Demand: Full-length episodes of Class of 3000 will be available via major cable companies' on-demand service starting immediately after its November 3rd premiere. The Sunny Bridges mockumentary, "Sunny Bridges: From Bankhead to Buckhead" will also be available for viewing. Fans of the television series will be able to view the program more than most other programming once this platform launches.

Podcasts: Cartoon Network New Media is developing a series of podcasts available for free download via Class of 3000.com. Andre Benjamin, the cast and crew discuss the art, music and style of Class of 3000, plus exclusive footage of voice sessions. New podcasts will be available each week beginning November 6th, 2006. Podcasts, audio recordings that can be downloaded or streamed on websites for listeners around the world, have grown in popularity over the past years quite a bit.

Mobile Content: Through the major national services, minute-long video clips of Class of 3000 will be available beginning October 30th, 2006. Mobile content is an emerging platform for snippet promotions for a variety of entertainment companies and has proven to be an emerging resource for generating word-of-mouth popularity as well.

Ringtones: Just like Sunny Bridges, Lil'D and the rest of the Westley crew, Cartoon Network is sharing the music through free mobile phone downloads of the Class of 3000 theme song, available beginning November 3rd, 2006.

Digital Downloads: Through Cartoon Network's partnership with the major digital entertainment online stores, individual episodes will be available for purchase after they air on Cartoon Network.