Disney loses Pokémon rights

[KeldeoKitty]

Disney has lost the rights to Pokémon because they just removed the content from DisneyNOW making it streaming only. I remember when it moved from Kids WB to Cartoon Network, then to Disney XD and to Netflix.

I’m not too happy with how Netflix is handling the show because the gap between the dub and the Japanese version is longer than it was with Cartoon Network and Disney XD. What I mean is that the Kids WB episodes took around a year to air which made sense because the games took a year as well. Cartoon Network had a 6 month gap early on then was shortened to 2-3 months by XY. Disney XD aired slightly longer but both channels released episodes individually. Netflix is releasing episodes in 12 episode packs some range from 3-6 months but the recent season ranges from 6-9 months. It’s just really awkward compared to how I was used to. Unfortunately my Netflix is cancelled after laying it off to subscribe to Disney+. And I can watch free Pokémon episodes on PokémonTV including Netflix episodes which take a while to come out but I’m behind on the series anyway.



I would’ve liked it if Cartoon Network could still air it, they don’t need to air reruns just air new episodes in an appropriate time, because for years Pokémon was the main reason I watched Cartoon Network. I’ve seen a couple tweets that want Nick to pick it up, But that would be a bad idea because Nick historically has treated action cartoons far worse than CN. I remember how Nick screwed over Digimon Fusion and Miraculous Ladybug. Also there’s a slim chance this would happen but I hope Nick never outright buys out the franchise along with TPCI like they did with TMNT and Winx Club because Nick usually does stupid things with their IPs that they own. I get that Nick bought the rights because 4Kids was selling them but while Nick’s TMNT and Winx Club had fans, I liked the properties a lot better when 4Kids had them.

 

[Light Lucario]

Disney has lost the rights to Pokémon because they just removed the content from DisneyNOW making it streaming only. I remember when it moved from Kids WB to Cartoon Network, then to Disney XD and to Netflix.

Honestly, I'm surprised that they kept the rights for as long as they did. Netflix started Pokemon Journeys over a year ago, but they were still airing SM reruns on Disney XD for quite some time. Maybe they just wanted something to fill up a slot on that channel or on DisneyNOW, but it's kind of impressive that they kept the rights long after they stopped airing new content.

I’m not too happy with how Netflix is handling the show because the gap between the dub and the Japanese version is longer than it was with Cartoon Network and Disney XD. What I mean is that the Kids WB episodes took around a year to air which made sense because the games took a year as well. Cartoon Network had a 6 month gap early on then was shortened to 2-3 months by XY. Disney XD aired slightly longer but both channels released episodes individually. Netflix is releasing episodes in 12 episode packs some range from 3-6 months but the recent season ranges from 6-9 months. It’s just really awkward compared to how I was used to. Unfortunately my Netflix is cancelled after laying it off to subscribe to Disney+. And I can watch free Pokémon episodes on PokémonTV including Netflix episodes which take a while to come out but I’m behind on the series anyway.

Yeah, this is a common complaint with the Netflix release and I can understand why. I think that the release format generally worked for the first season of Journeys, but taking so long to start Masters Journeys was more of an issue, especially when I think most of the season has already aired in Canada. Granted, I'm still far behind on watching the series myself, but I think that if they had kept the release schedule consistent, people might have been okay with Netflix's handling of the series. Since the episodes have aired elsewhere, I assume that this an issue on Netflix's side.

I will say that I don't think that the gap is nearly as bad as it was with the 4Kids dub. They were far too behind on the Japanese version. It's still not ideal, but not has bad as that gap was. Most people have wanted Netflix to release episodes weekly. I'm not against that either, but I still feel like if they kept the consistent release schedule from the first season of Journeys, people probably would have been okay with it.

I would’ve liked it if Cartoon Network could still air it, they don’t need to air reruns just air new episodes in an appropriate time, because for years Pokémon was the main reason I watched Cartoon Network. I’ve seen a couple tweets that want Nick to pick it up, But that would be a bad idea because Nick historically has treated action cartoons far worse than CN. I remember how Nick screwed over Digimon Fusion and Miraculous Ladybug. Also there’s a slim chance this would happen but I hope Nick never outright buys out the franchise along with TPCI like they did with TMNT and Winx Club because Nick usually does stupid things with their IPs that they own. I get that Nick bought the rights because 4Kids was selling them but while Nick’s TMNT and Winx Club had fans, I liked the properties a lot better when 4Kids had them.

Honestly, I don't think Cartoon Network would be a good choice. It was one of my reasons for sticking with the channel for years too, but they treated the series pretty poorly during the last couple of series that they had. Both BW and XY had pretty minimal promotions. They'd promote the start of a new season, but that was about it. They eventually stopped rerun slots for the series, gave XY early Saturday morning deathslot premieres and clearly had no interest left in the series when something as huge as the Kalos League had no attention or promotion. Disney XD and arguably Netflix treated the anime better than Cartoon Network did during BW and XY. Disney XD gave SM a consistent premiere slot, had rerun slots, made a big deal about having all episodes available on DisneyNOW and had promos airing frequently on DisneyXD. That was one reason why I was surprised that they didn't keep the series since it seemed like they were much more invested in it than Cartoon Network had been in ages. Although, part of the decision could be that Disney XD's future is not guaranteed. I'd be shocked if it's still around in a few years.

Netflix definitely could have a better release schedule, but they do promote the series more effectively than Cartoon Network did and most new batches of episodes tend to be listed among some of their top shows for kids during that week too.

It truly boggles my mid that people really want Nickelodeon to air the series. Nickelodeon is notoriously bad with third party property, especially anime. Not only did they treat Digimon Fusion poorly, but the way they treated both Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V and Zexal were pretty terrible too. Despite both series having complete dubs, unlike Digimon Fusion or some of the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series for that matter, neither series aired entirely on Nicktoons. Nicktoons stopped airing Zexal somewhere around the second to last arc with the remaining episodes premiering on Hulu and they skipped over all of Arc V's second season in order to air episodes promoting more recent cards. Airing a show on Nicktoons is practically a death sentence. As much as I can understand the problem people have with Netflix or being able to watch the series on cable again, Nickelodeon would be a horrible decision. They would be better sticking with Netflix or making the series exclusive to Pokemon TV than relying on Nickelodeon.

Considering that Pokemon is the highest selling media franchise, I don't think you have to worry about TPCI selling the IP to Nickleodeon either. Both TMNT and especially Winx Club were not in the same position that Pokemon currently is in. TMNT was still a solid well selling franchise when Nickelodeon bought it, but 4Kids was in far more dire financial stress while TPCI, as far as I can tell, is doing just fine. Plus, given that TPCI was created to avoid any other third party involvement with the franchise, especially with what happened with 4Kids, I don't think that they'd suddenly want another company, let alone Nickleodeon, taking over the anime.

 

[LinusFan303]

At the time Pokemon went to Disney XD, it was the best decision. Nickelodeon as @Light Lucario said, wouldn't have been good keepers at all, it would have aired for like maybe a month , then dumped to Nicktoons then not air the rest of the "Sun and Moon" seasons. Disney XD did the series very well, nice rerun slots daily in the afternoon, nice promotion, well treated. Cartoon Network was done with the show and they would have just buried it like they did with the new Bakugan stuff. Since there's no one else, Netflix was the best choice after Disney's channels.

Disney XD treated this anime and few other anime they had pretty well, it's more sad the other channels (including main Disney Channel) don't have much interest in children-age anime.

 

[JMTV]

it's more sad the other channels (including main Disney Channel) don't have much interest in children-age anime.

To be fair, Disney Channel was never interested in kids anime since Jetix came out to begin with.

But yeah, as for this topic, I wasn't a massive Pokemon fan, but I do like Pokemon sometimes. Hearing this is not surprising to me since Netflix has now airing Pokemon on their service, and I do understand why a lot of people were disappointing with it.

As for Pokemon being on Nickelodeon? No. Just no. Say what you will about Cartoon Network mistreating Pokemon during the 2010's, Nickelodeon is going to treat it much worse. That's a fact. Even if it's a third party acquisition or not, they'll treat it no differently like any other Nicktoon that isn't their golden sponge boy.

 

[CyberCubed]

Pokemon has literally never had mainstream appeal in the west since the days of Misty or the 4kids dub actors leaving at the end of Hoenn at the latest. I mean I don't care that Misty left at all myself, but Misty leaving killed the initial popularity of the show in the west, and then the 4kids dub actors being dropped after Hoenn probably killed the second half.

Pokemon did have a decent run on CN when the DP series was airing, but it was also likely because a new younger gen of kids was getting into the show for the first time. And then the whole 2010 decade era was just an obligation with mixed views. Pokemon is still popular in Japan though.

It really seems like the dub will just float around different networks or streaming services now with the bare minimum of effort to promote it. I don't know why the U.S. is so obsessed with Misty and Brock, but the show has literally remained under the radar ever since both left.

 

[PF9]

When is the whole catalog going to be available again somewhere?

 

[Checkerboard]

Didn't know they still had them, thought it was on Netflix.

 

[Light Lucario]

Pokemon has literally never had mainstream appeal in the west since the days of Misty or the 4kids dub actors leaving at the end of Hoenn at the latest. I mean I don't care that Misty left at all myself, but Misty leaving killed the initial popularity of the show in the west, and then the 4kids dub actors being dropped after Hoenn probably killed the second half.

For someone who claims that they don't care that Misty left, you do seem to love to bring her up in virtually every Pokemon related thread. I also think that the claim that the anime never had mainstream appeal in the west after Misty left or the 4Kids dub is pretty ridiculous, if not just a huge exaggeration. Obviously, the anime's peak of popularity was during the original series, but I wouldn't go as far as to way that there was never any mainstream appeal afterwards. Ash winning the Alola League making headline news definitely gives me a different impression. Admittedly, how mainstream that was might be debatable, but I think you're selling the anime short here. I remember people often citing that Misty leaving made them drop the show too, but that was over twenty years ago. New fans have come and gone since then. The anime might not be as hugely popular as it used to be during the original series, but I don't think it would be considered unpopular or that it hasn't had mainstream appeal since its early days.

Considering that the TPCI has been going on longer than the 4Kids dub did at this point, I also have my doubts that the 4Kids dub ending killed its popularity. I remember the backlash from that decision quite well, but that obviously didn't affect the anime in a negative way. We're at a point where plenty of people's first introduction to the anime would have been through the TPCI dub instead since they've covered more series and episodes than 4Kids did.

Pokemon did have a decent run on CN when the DP series was airing, but it was also likely because a new younger gen of kids was getting into the show for the first time. And then the whole 2010 decade era was just an obligation with mixed views. Pokemon is still popular in Japan though.

DP was really the only series Cartoon Network aired that had a pretty consistent amount of promotion, at least for its first season, good premiere slots and rerun slots. New kids would have been still getting into BW and XY, but they weren't nearly as interested in promoting it. I don't think that's necessarily because kids weren't enjoying the anime or that it wasn't popular. I think that Cartoon Network just became less and less interested in third party properties in general at that time. Why bother airing shows that they don't own when they can air their own properties and get more money? When Cartoon Network didn't pick up SM, I don't think it was a huge shock given how they treated the series for years by that point.

The anime is still popular in the west too. Perhaps not as much as it is in Japan, but I still think that you're underselling it a bit too much here.

It really seems like the dub will just float around different networks or streaming services now with the bare minimum of effort to promote it. I don't know why the U.S. is so obsessed with Misty and Brock, but the show has literally remained under the radar ever since both left.

I don't know why you're so obsessed with bringing up Misty and Brock to be honest. Claiming that the show ha literally remained under the radar since they left is so ridiculous that I truly don't know where you got that idea from. Again, the anime isn't as popular as it used to be, but calling a series that aired on cable from the late 90's until Netflix picked it up in 2020 under the radar is nonsensical. If it was really under the radar, the dub probably wouldn't have kept airing for as long as it did on TV. Even after moving to Netflix, the anime seems to be doing pretty well. New batches of episodes tend to be on their Top Ten Shows for kids, at least for the first week or two. I know that was the case the last time I logged into Netflix at least.

I already brought up Ash's Alola League victory making the news, but both I Choose You and The Power of Us did well for limited theater releases too. I'm pretty sure that the Mewtwo Remake did well on Netflix too. You're acting as if the anime lost any relevancy within the mainstream once Misty and then Brock were gone, but I just don't agree. I think that you're too focused on why some fans dropped the show years ago. Considering how well the anime has been doing without Misty or Brock for years, I think that you're just overselling the impact that their departures had on the anime's popularity. Brock didn't even leave for good until the end of DP, which was well after Misty left and probably well after most fans focused on just the original trio cared about the anime.

At this point though, I don't know if I could see Pokemon going back to a different network. Not only because there aren't a lot of good options in terms of channels that would treat the series well, but the TV landscape has changed too much. Even with how successful and well established the Pokemon anime is, I don't know if I could see a network wanting to give it a timeslot instead of an original series or promoting a new streaming service. Plus, despite how Netflix has treated the anime, I don't think that they'd want to give it up. They have made the last two movies Netflix exclusives as well, which gives me the impression that they'd want to keep the anime there too. If they could just do a better job promoting the series, provide a consistent release schedule and ideally have more older series available, then I think people would be generally okay with Netflix premiering the dub.

 

[Dan's Revenge]

Only few things I'll say to this, is while they had 'all of it', Disney wasted an opportunity to pull an FXX with the Simpsons, and do an 'Every Pokémon Ever' marathon - at least to the height they could take it. Not as fun streaming as anyone can do it anytime, and sure, they don't have to miss it just because it is linear, but just another fun linear thing that could've happened, and unless something happens with Netflix's run of it, won't.

I will give kudos to Disney for getting it though at all. I thought it fit their (XD) lineup pretty well with other toyetic action shows. I'd only occasionally watched some, but it felt like a fit there --- and they treated it better than CN had [later on] with good broadcast times.

 

[ShadowBlinky]

For someone who claims that they don't care that Misty left, you do seem to love to bring her up in virtually every Pokemon related thread.

I know, right? And not caring that Misty left is the ONLY thing I agree with him on this.

 

[superkeegan9100]

Sucks seeing Pokemon leave English linear TV, now the only option is Discovery Familia :/

 

[harry580]

unless Cartoon Network gets the rights back to Pokemon (if its wasn't for the Netflix deal)

 

[Light Lucario]

unless Cartoon Network gets the rights back to Pokemon (if its wasn't for the Netflix deal)

I don't think that the Netflix deal is keeping Cartoon Network from getting Pokemon. They hadn't been interested in the anime for years, dropped it right before the 20th anniversary and in general have been moving further away from third party shows. Netflix deal or not, I highly doubt that Cartoon Network would be willing to pick up the series again. If they wanted to keep the anime, they would have picked up the rights to SM and now Journeys instead of letting Disney and Netflix grab them instead.

 

[superkeegan9100]

unless Cartoon Network gets the rights back to Pokemon (if its wasn't for the Netflix deal)

While that would be fitting, I don't see Pokemon re-airing on Cartoon Network anytime soon.

 

[Markus]

unless Cartoon Network gets the rights back to Pokemon (if its wasn't for the Netflix deal)

I don't think CN is interested in anime anymore. I doubt the show will air there again.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

We can all agree that Nickelodeon would be a bad choice to air Pokémon after Disney XD.

 

[ShadowBlinky]

do you remember Kappa Mikey? it was a cartoon / anime on Nick. Kappa Mikey the main character himself looked like Fry from Futurama. Remember that?

That doesn't have anything to do with this subject.

 

[Moe]

To be fair, Disney Channel was never interested in kids anime since Jetix came out to begin with.

At that time when Jetix launched in 2004, Disney Channel becoming more and more live action shows and less animated shows, so eventually they almost eliminated all until revival of animated shows in 2016-2017.

When is the whole catalog going to be available again somewhere?

Multiple streaming services...

Pokémon app has rotation of generation series.

Hulu has X and Y.

Netflix has newer one - Journeys and Master Journeys, Sun and Moon.

Amazon and their Pokémon channel have almost all, exception of first season - beginning, and Sun and Moon and newer.

 

[Light Lucario]

In case, if TPCI is looking to sell, so I hopefully it goes to Disney so they can put all of Pokémon episodes on Disney+.

I highly doubt that TPCI is going to sell the Pokemon brand though. TPCI was created to basically avoid any third party companies handling the franchise. That's why they took over control of the cards from Wizards of the Coast and the anime from 4Kids back in the day. I don't really see why they'd want to sell either since they're clearly making a ton of money from all of the games, merchandise, etc.

And the last thing Disney needs is full control over another huge merchandise brand. They already control too much, so they don't need to get more money from Pokemon. Not to mention I don't really see them interested in buying the franchise. If they seemingly weren't interested in keeping it for Disney XD, then I don't think that they'd be willing to spend the money to buy it entirely. Granted, this is kind of moot when TPCI definitely isn't going to sell it, but Disney getting the series so that all of the episodes go on Disney+ doesn't sound like a good idea. I'd much rather just have Netflix put up more series instead. I'm still surprised that getting Pokemon Journeys didn't lead to Netflix streaming more older episodes and series too.

 

[harry580]

In case, if TPCI is looking to sell, so I hopefully it goes to Disney so they can put all of Pokémon episodes on Disney+.

nope, not gonna happen, especially how they treated the Digimon dub after they got Saban in 2001 and how Disney treated the Pokemon airing on Disney xd and the fact that Disney has shuttered the video game division back in 2016 and the selloff of foxnext games to scopely in 2020