Disney loses Pokémon rights

[Light Lucario]

Yeah, this honestly sounds pretty unbelievable to me. Disney Channel has never been interested in airing anime on their main channel. Pokemon being the first case of regularly airing an anime on the channel would kind of make sense given how popular and successful the franchise is, it still feels like too much of a stretch. For a long time, Disney Channel's schedule has been full of nothing but their original kid sitcoms and animated series. Throwing in third party shows into the mix would feel more out of place unless they plan on doing a noticeable overhaul to their schedule. Maybe they are planning on effectively merging Disney Channel with Disney XD, but even that I can't see happening so quickly.

They also claim that we'll hear more by late July/August, which is still really strange to me. They claim to have a source, which isn't too hard to believe, but I still don't understand why neither Disney or especially TPCI wouldn't properly announce something like the Pokemon anime airing on TV or being put on Disney+ in just a couple of months. Waiting another month or so for a potential official announcement when a fan account seemingly already broke the news just feels weird to me and makes me more suspicious about their claims.

 

[Golden Geek]

That account's been plenty trustworthy in the past, but I guess we'll see for sure when the time gets closer.

It's still possible it's just appearing on the schedule temporarily as a sort of welcome-back celebration and will migrate over to XD the next week.

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

Wow well let's see what happens. Seems like Disney XD is doing better than CN.

 

[Markus]

I personally like what they are doing if this indeed is true. The show gets a huge viewer boost if it really does air on Disney Channel. Cable has a chance to finally see Pokemon in one of the healthiest kid networks.

We shall see but if they randomly want to air it on Disney Channel, then likely they want to get rid of Disney XD. This also explains why XD has randomly decided to rerun shows out of nowhere after being gone for years. They might give it a farewell.

 

[IAmStripped]

I know nostalgia plays a factor but I miss Pokemon on CN.

Me too. I didn’t even start paying attention to Pokémon until it started airing on Cartoon Network.

I use to watch reruns of Pokémon: Indigo League during the City Era. I even liked The Johto Journeys, Johto League Champions and Master Quest. Man those were the days.

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

Me too. I didn’t even start paying attention to Pokémon until it started airing on Cartoon Network.

I use to watch reruns of Pokémon: Indigo League during the City Era. I even liked The Johto Journeys, Johto League Champions and Master Quest. Man those were the days.

Yeah bro. CN without anime feels empty

 

[RegularMan]

I personally like what they are doing if this indeed is true. The show gets a huge viewer boost if it really does air on Disney Channel. Cable has a chance to finally see Pokemon in one of the healthiest kid networks.

We shall see but if they randomly want to air it on Disney Channel, then likely they want to get rid of Disney XD. This also explains why XD has randomly decided to rerun shows out of nowhere after being gone for years. They might give it a farewell.

Not much to miss. It's been dead for years. Should've made it basic when it launched.

 

[LinusFan303]

I’m worried Disney Channel would treat Beyblade X and Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush badly if they don’t outperform kid coms

You're in luck they don't really do kidcoms anymore, their line up is mostly Big City Greens and Bluey maybe some Kiff and movies thrown in for effect.

We shall see but if they randomly want to air it on Disney Channel, then likely they want to get rid of Disney XD. This also explains why XD has randomly decided to rerun shows out of nowhere after being gone for years. They might give it a farewell.

Both channels could air the show.

 

[Markus]

Not much to miss. It's been dead for years. Should've made it basic when it launched.

I can agree on DXD being dead since Disney Channel became for animation a couple of years ago. However XD has aired anime so it's not entirely a trash bin network either.

 

[SpecialColorfull]

And the ratings for the reruns on weekdays did pretty well too. That's why I believed this at first. If Disney is preparing for Pokemon they may have wanted to make kids more familiar with anime first... But then no one named an actual source and I grew skeptical.

 

[IAmStripped]

Yeah bro. CN without anime feels empty

Yeah, but at least we still have Adult Swim which still airs anime every weekend, although I do really wish Toonami was still a weekday evening block like in the old days in the Early-2000’s.

 

[AlwaysInTheZone]

Disney Channel is extremely different from how you remember it these days, their strategy has shifted massively

I think the only people surprised by Pokemon going there haven't turned the channel on in years

 

[PF9]

Complementing Disney Channel airing the main Pokemon series could be a mature-oriented spin-off on FX, although like the main series, such a spin-off would have to air in Japan first. If that is successful, FX could acquire more mature-oriented serious anime for a late-night block competing with Adult Swim. (FXX would be reserved for comedy programming of all kinds.)

 

[Light Lucario]

Disney Channel is extremely different from how you remember it these days, their strategy has shifted massively

I think the only people surprised by Pokemon going there haven't turned the channel on in years

I don't think it was necessary to laugh at my earlier comment if you just disagreed with what I said. You could have just explained your point here without being rude. I haven't been able to watch Disney Channel since cutting the cable cord last year, but even with what I remember of their schedule, their lineup was still mostly on their own original shows. There was more animation than I what I initially remembered admittedly, but aside from Bluey, they don't really air third party shows on their main channel, let alone anime. I don't know what their most recent schedule is like to be fair, but it still sounds different from what I remember Disney Channel airing just last year.

Complementing Disney Channel airing the main Pokemon series could be a mature-oriented spin-off on FX, although like the main series, such a spin-off would have to air in Japan first. If that is successful, FX could acquire more mature-oriented serious anime for a late-night block competing with Adult Swim. (FXX would be reserved for comedy programming of all kinds.)

There isn't going to be a mature spin-off. Pokemon is a family friendly franchise. The anime series are willing to tackle serious emotional moments and concepts, but they've always been aimed at kids. They aren't going to suddenly create a mature series for FX or any channel.

 

[Golden Geek]

Looking at Disney Channel's main schedule, it'd feel a little weird next to Bluey, but I don't think it's that weird next to the other cartoons that mostly dominate their schedule. It'd probably pair the best with Miraculous Ladybug.

Funny enough, one of the three ads that was running in pretty much every commercial break on Disney Junior Netherlands back in January was "NIEUW POKÉMON LEGENDS Z-A!" The Junior block does honestly have slightly more of an action-adventure slant to it, and could be rearranged to make Pokémon a transitional show between the two blocks, but that would mean less Bluey, and they're never going to do that.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Looking at Disney Channel's main schedule, it'd feel a little weird next to Bluey, but I don't think it's that weird next to the other cartoons that mostly dominate their schedule. It'd probably pair the best with Miraculous Ladybug.

Funny enough, one of the three ads that was running in pretty much every commercial break on Disney Junior Netherlands back in January was "NIEUW POKÉMON LEGENDS Z-A!" The Junior block does honestly have slightly more of an action-adventure slant to it, and could be rearranged to make Pokémon a transitional show between the two blocks, but that would mean less Bluey, and they're never going to do that.

Disney XD often airs anime next to Big City Greens. I guess it’s not impossible Disney Channel will do the same. We still don’t have official confirmation.

Then again Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush wasn’t officially confirmed until schedules showed it and a promo was produced by Disney XD just a few days before it began.

Surely Disney wouldn’t be so foolish as to stealthily air a Pokemon acquisition this way. The Pokemon company would be more vocal than Konami. They should be airing promos right now promoting Pokemon on XD, if they really have it. Instead I saw ads for reruns of Go Rush during Beyblade X this weekend. Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush has been in reruns for months, but is still getting ads.

 

[Light Lucario]

Disney XD often airs anime next to Big City Greens. I guess it’s not impossible Disney Channel will do the same. We still don’t have official confirmation.

Then again Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush wasn’t officially confirmed until schedules showed it and a promo was produced by Disney XD just a few days before it began.

Surely Disney wouldn’t be so foolish as to stealthily air a Pokemon acquisition this way. The Pokemon company would be more vocal than Konami. They should be airing promos right now promoting Pokemon on XD, if they really have it. Instead I saw ads for reruns of Go Rush during Beyblade X this weekend. Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush has been in reruns for months, but is still getting ads.

I can't imagine neither Disney or especially TPCI not formally making an announcement and just randomly airing promos for the anime at the last minute like they did with Go Rush. I love the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise to bits, but Pokemon is a much bigger franchise with a lot more merchandise. I also haven't understood Konami's handling of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime in years while TPCI is at least consistent with how they handle the Pokemon anime for better or for worse.

There is still plenty of time for some formal announcement to be made, but it does make this news feel stranger to me. When Pokemon was moving to Cartoon Network, to Disney XD and to Netflix, we had legit news sources posting the update, not some fan account with insider sources, and it wasn't at last minute either. I guess it could be considered a leak, assuming if this news turns out to be legit, but it does make me feel more suspicious about this development. They seem to be trustworthy and the idea doesn't seem like a huge stretch either, but making the announcement with no actual source that they can back up beyond having an insider just feels weird.

 

[LinusFan303]

My assumption is if its true, they will be waiting until sometime in July to announce that it's coming in August to Disney Plus and Disney Channel. There's new episodes of the current series coming to Netflix this week, and they wouldn't to muddy things by announcing that they are coming to Disney Plus , especially with it being just reruns on Disney Plus and Disney Channel (and/or Disney XD).