‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Is Coming to Cartoon Network, But There’s a Catch

SpongeBob SquarePants and the rest of his Bikini Bottom pals are swimming to Cartoon Network, at least in one area of the world.

The beloved yellow square sponge, who for the past 26 years has delighted children across the globe on Nickelodeon, will air as part of Cartoon Network’s broadcast lineup exclusively in South Korea.

Season 9 of the animated comedy premiered on Cartoon Network South Korea on Monday, with new episodes debuting weekly at 3:30 p.m. local time on Mondays and Tuesdays, according to RegularCapital. The channel’s July lineup also includes My Adventures with Superman Season 2, Teen Titans Go! Superman Time, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Talking Tom Heroes: Suddenly Super, The Amazing World of Gumball: Gumball’s Universe, and Tom and Jerry Gokko.

Created by the late Stephen Hillenburg, SpongeBob SquarePants centers around the titular square yellow sponge and his life in Bikini Bottom, where he works at the Krusty Krab and is friends with the likes of Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, and Squidward Tentacles. The series premiered on Nickelodeon in the U.S. in 1999 and has since been broadcast across the globe.

Although SpongeBob SquarePants is generally considered to be a Nickelodeon series throughout the globe, with streaming also available on various platforms, the move to Cartoon Network in South Korea comes three years after Nickelodeon shuttered its linear channel in the country in June 2022 after 17 years. At around the same time, Paramount+ launched in South Korea as a free-of-charge addition to the CJ ENM-controlled TVing platform. In addition to Paramount+ originals like Yellowjackets and Mayor of Kingstown, Nickelodeon South Korea programming moved to the platform.

SpongeBob SquarePants was available to stream to South Korean viewers on Paramount+ up until late 2024, when TVING and Paramount+ ended their partnership, resulting in the removal of Nickelodeon and Paramount+ content from the platform.

According to RegularCapital, the new move to Cartoon Network in South Korea comes after Cartoon Network paid Nickelodeon for the rights to air the show in the country.

SpongeBob SquarePants continues to air on Nickelodeon in the U.S. and is also available to stream on Paramount+ alongside spinoffs Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show.