Cartoon Network iPad app lets you watch TV, play games

Here's a new way to get kids to pay attention: an app that lets you watch TV and play games at the same time.

Today the Cartoon Network releases CN 2.0, a free app for the iPad that features a way to play one of several games and TV shows simultaneously.

(The version for the iPhone and iPod Touch features the same loaded games and TV series, but you can't play and watch at the same time.)

CN 2.0 is an update to the earlier Cartoon Network app, which launched in 2010.

"I have a 7-year-old," says Chris Waldron, Cartoon Network's vice-president of digital. "While he's watching TV, he's got all this energy. I thought, what if we could allow that energy to be spent playing games? What if we mixed the peanut butter and chocolate together?"

He knows that leaving the show on while the game is being played means less attention is being devoted to the TV show, but he doesn't mind.

"Right now people are watching shows and playing games in the real world," he says. "That's the reality." Besides, he adds, "Interacting with our brand will only encourage them to watch the shows," he says.

The shows in the app include Adventure Time, Ben 10 and Regular Show and games based on the Adventure and Ben shows, as well as Null Void Escape Velocity.

Viewers can also choose to watch Cartoon Network's live stream within the app.

In June, Cartoon Network began offering free streaming of its entire schedule for tablet use, one of a handful of networks (its sister company CNN is another) that allow this. (You have to be a cable or satellite subscriber to get the feed, however.)