TV cartoons

[Doug Drown]

This thread about Uncle Gus and Big Brother Bob Emery has made me wonder about something (this is a layman's question):  What did television stations commonly do with the cartoon and movie archives they had when we were little?  Did they show them for several years and sell them to other stations, did they toss them in the trash after so many years, or what?  There are cartoons I remember that I haven't seen in forty-five years or more.

-Doug