Netflix has secured exclusive rights to Pokemon Journeys/PM2019 in the US

[Momentum]

I had a hunch those less than ideal ratings may lead to Disney XD dropping Pokémon, and now that suspicion holds legitimate weight. My guess; Disney XD made the decision and TPCi spent all this time trying to secure a new channel to air on before going with Netflix for Movie 22 as well as the new series. Honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney XD could get those same ratings or higher with re-runs of their own originals, so why would they bother paying for more Pokémon? Letting it go makes the most sense when it comes to advertising revenue.

Honestly, I'm extremely excited for Pokémon moving to Netflix. Streaming is the way of the future and it will make it a lot easier for people around the world to see international dubs at the same time. Obviously Japan would still get it first but that's to be expected with any anime.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about longer openings, we thought the same thing would happen with the move to Disney XD. It's just cheaper for TPCi to continue thirty-second openings, and at this point, I couldn't really care how long it is anymore.

 

[Digifiend]

I am curious; did Disney decide not to pick up the new show (and if so why), or if Netflix just offered TPCI a great deal and there was no renegotiation with Disney at all? Or even if TPCI just wants it somewhere with a higher distribution?

In a lot of countries, Disney XD has closed down - the brand might be dead by the time Journeys ends in three or four years. I suspect Disney weren't interested for that reason. If Disney had picked it up, it would've ended up on Disney+ i.e. still on streaming instead of linear TV. But like the Simpsons, it clearly wouldn't fit in the five Disney+ tentpoles - Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Huh? Pop already shows Pokemon.

I'm well aware that they already air the series as they have with Black and White, XY and Diamond and Pearl. This is however the first time that the channel has gotten an entire new series rather than CITV.

 

[prog rocker]

In a lot of countries, Disney XD has closed down - the brand might be dead by the time Journeys ends in three or four years. I suspect Disney weren't interested for that reason. If Disney had picked it up, it would've ended up on Disney+ i.e. still on streaming instead of linear TV. But like the Simpsons, it clearly wouldn't fit in the five Disney+ tentpoles - Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic.

Disney XD has closed down in other regions?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Disney XD has closed down in other regions?

Yep. I know the Indian version shut down to make way for Marvel HQ.

Super Hungama - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Pokémon still airs on it as does Beyblade and one or two other shows but otherwise the channel is entirely Marvel focused.

And the Australia version ceased broadcasting at the start of last year.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm interested to see what this means for the iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Video releases as well as Pokémon TV--even if nothing's changed for Canada, they don't have a separate Pokémon TV service. The digital purchase releases were always tied to US airdates even if they were available in Canada, the UK, and Australia, so they might also stop being released.

That's a good point. I don't know if I can see them stopping those releases completely. I'm sure that offered more revenue for TPCI, but I don't know if the deal with Netflix would legally make digital releases more difficult. They may just have to wait until a certain period of time before releasing them on other digital formats.

I had a hunch those less than ideal ratings may lead to Disney XD dropping Pokémon, and now that suspicion holds legitimate weight. My guess; Disney XD made the decision and TPCi spent all this time trying to secure a new channel to air on before going with Netflix for Movie 22 as well as the new series. Honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney XD could get those same ratings or higher with re-runs of their own originals, so why would they bother paying for more Pokémon? Letting it go makes the most sense when it comes to advertising revenue.

Even with this news, I still really doubt that the ratings were a factor in this decision. If that was the case, I'd just question what kind of expectations Disney had for the ratings of a series that had already been on the air for nearly twenty years by the time they picked it up on a premium channel. Besides that, if Disney XD was disappointed with the ratings, that didn't really affect how they treated the series. The fact that they're still airing promos for reruns over a month after SM ended says a lot. Wanting for just rely on their own original series for ratings would make sense if they didn't have an anime block with other toyetic series and as far as I know, they're still going to be airing on Disney XD.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about longer openings, we thought the same thing would happen with the move to Disney XD. It's just cheaper for TPCi to continue thirty-second openings, and at this point, I couldn't really care how long it is anymore.

It might be a long shot and I could easily see the justification of wanting to have the opening ready for any potential TV airings as an excuse for another thirty second opening, but I think having a longer opening would still be nice. Not a lot of the opening themes from recent seasons stand out too much in large part because they only have a bit of time to work with. Even a minute would potentially make the openings more memorable and decent. I miss having good dub opening themes.

In a lot of countries, Disney XD has closed down - the brand might be dead by the time Journeys ends in three or four years. I suspect Disney weren't interested for that reason. If Disney had picked it up, it would've ended up on Disney+ i.e. still on streaming instead of linear TV. But like the Simpsons, it clearly wouldn't fit in the five Disney+ tentpoles - Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic.

Honestly, that would make a lot of sense. I've heard discussions of Disney XD closing down in other countries and while it hasn't happened in the U.S. yet, it wouldn't be a huge stretch or shock if it does happen, especially when Disney would want to pour in more original series for their shiny new streaming service. I did mention before that one of the reasons I could see the series moving to somewhere else would be if Disney XD just shut down completely. That's also a good point about how Pokemon doesn't really fit into the main tentpoles for Disney+ and they're more focused on all of the properties that they own completely for that service anyway.

 

[DigiPokeMon]

I think the next Batch in September will only have eps 13-22 due to the production of the anime in japan being in Hiatus

 

[abcboy]

I think the next Batch in September will only have eps 13-22 due to the production of the anime in japan being in Hiatus

They were already ready to air, I don't see the hiatus affecting only 23-24.

 

[Momentum]

Even with this news, I still really doubt that the ratings were a factor in this decision. If that was the case, I'd just question what kind of expectations Disney had for the ratings of a series that had already been on the air for nearly twenty years by the time they picked it up on a premium channel. Besides that, if Disney XD was disappointed with the ratings, that didn't really affect how they treated the series. The fact that they're still airing promos for reruns over a month after SM ended says a lot. Wanting for just rely on their own original series for ratings would make sense if they didn't have an anime block with other toyetic series and as far as I know, they're still going to be airing on Disney XD.

I think a decline was to be expected, but there had to be a hope Pokémon would be on-par with their other shows, maybe even do better. Why would Disney continue giving money to TPCi when they can just re-run their own content and get the same result, likely more? As for the promo, that could have been a stipulation TPCi asked for when making the agreement with Disney XD after seeing what happened on Cartoon Network. As for the anime block, if Disney XD is going to lose Pokémon, maybe their plan is to replace it with a less-expensive title. First thing that comes to my mind is Yu-Gi-Oh. VRAINS has yet to air at all in the US and I don't see Nick rushing to renew. That would be ideal.

 

[P_S_B]

What concerns me is that Netflix might prevent future physical releases of the series, which as a collector I would find extremely undesirable.

 

[Momentum]

What concerns me is that Netflix might prevent future physical releases of the series, which as a collector I would find extremely undesirable.

Same. Especially with the "Netflix Original" branding. Sure, similar titles like She-Re and the Princesses of Power and Seven Deadly Sins may have received physical releases while under that same branding, there's nothing stopping Netflix from putting in stipulations that prevent physical releases for any number of years to bolster the streaming numbers. For the last few movies prior to M22, physical releases have occurred 3-4 months after premiere. We are closing in on two months without any word on a physical release for M22. There's still some time before the gap exceeds usual range, but I definitely have some concerns right now.

 

[jbmasta]

What concerns me is that Netflix might prevent future physical releases of the series, which as a collector I would find extremely undesirable.

There's still no physical release for their version of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

 

[ValorSugarcakes]

Us Canadians don’t get this series on Netflix tho!!!! We still have Teletoon, which mean we have to wait until 2022 for this series to reach Canadian Netflix thx to Netflix ignoring some of the Ultra Legends episodes due to them releasing too much Bollywood movies in our area!!!!

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think a decline was to be expected, but there had to be a hope Pokémon would be on-par with their other shows, maybe even do better. Why would Disney continue giving money to TPCi when they can just re-run their own content and get the same result, likely more? As for the promo, that could have been a stipulation TPCi asked for when making the agreement with Disney XD after seeing what happened on Cartoon Network. As for the anime block, if Disney XD is going to lose Pokémon, maybe their plan is to replace it with a less-expensive title. First thing that comes to my mind is Yu-Gi-Oh. VRAINS has yet to air at all in the US and I don't see Nick rushing to renew. That would be ideal.

I'm sure that they wanted Pokemon to be a huge hit, but I'm also just not sure if ratings would factor in that much for Disney XD or make them get rid of the series. I don't see them getting rid of Beyblade or Yokai Watch and I doubt that either of those series have been huge hits for the channel either. As for the promo theory, I'm not sure if TPCI would have that much control or say in how they advertise Pokemon. Otherwise, they could have made some agreement with Cartoon Network to do more promotion at one point during the many times they renewed their rights over the series. I can't say that it's an impossible theory since I don't know how these kind of deals work of course, but I'm just not sure if the promotion and consistent premieres are just on a stipulation from TPCI here. I see promos for Beyblade all the time too and writing off both of those series' promotions as stipulations doesn't seem likely to me.

I'd honestly be quite disappointed and upset if they plan on replacing Pokemon with Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains for multiple reasons. It hasn't been on the U.S. at all, but I also think it's far too little, too late for them to air it on TV. By the time they potentially start airing Vrains, they would be promoting cards that are years old. It would be the exact same problem Nicktoons had with airing Arc V where they aren't tying in well with the current booster packs, which is a major problem considering that's exactly why the spin-off series exist. It would be like airing XY during the seventh generation instead of the sixth when X/Y were marketing relevant. Getting the rights to air Yu-Gi-Oh! would most likely be cheaper, but I have my doubts that Disney would be interested in the property. Pokemon is a huge successful franchise, so the notion that they'd want to get the rights to the long running anime series made sense. While the card game is still popular, the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series after DM really haven't been well received in the U.S. for a number of reasons. The fact that the U.S. is technically a full series behind the Japanese version at this point is rather telling. If Disney wanted to get Vrains, they could have easily gotten well before now and they wouldn't have had to replace Pokemon for it either. They would just include it among their three other toyetic anime and make it a full two hour block instead.

If anything, the Netflix release format would honestly fit more with Vrains than it does with Pokemon. They could afford to release the first complete season of that dub by this point and possibly not take too long with releasing the second season, depending on how far Konami Cross Media got with dubbing it before possibly having to put it on hiatus due to the current situation.

What concerns me is that Netflix might prevent future physical releases of the series, which as a collector I would find extremely undesirable.

Yeah, that would be disappointing for me as well. I like collecting the DVD sets and I have most of the series available. I'd be able to rewatch these episodes whenever I wanted to as long as I have my Netflix account, but having the freedom of a physical release in case I ever have to close my account would be nice. Plus, I just like the notion of having every season on DVD anyway.

 

[JinksChow]

Why not just spell it as "Go"? They've turned him into a Chinese character as if not to make the game reference too obvious. I almost always use English names, but I refuse to follow this weird choice.

I'm sure it isn't your intention, but your tone there comes off as kind of racist.

First of all, there are no Chinese characters with the pinyin of "Goh". The closest one that exists is "Gou", and while several Chinese characters have that pronunciation, one of the more common characters means "dog" in Chinese.

In addition, you can pretty much use the same argument for Korean (Hangul) and Japanese (Hiragana/Katakana) as well. Officially, they don't use "oh", but "o" as a syllable. So from our perspective, "Goh" isn't even an Asian character.

 

[CometCartoons]

I'm actually glad pokemon isn't in disney xd anymore. I feel like it was doing worse there than when it was on cartoon network.

 

[Silktree]

I'm sure it isn't your intention, but your tone there comes off as kind of racist.

First of all, there are no Chinese characters with the pinyin of "Goh". The closest one that exists is "Gou", and while several Chinese characters have that pronunciation, one of the more common characters means "dog" in Chinese.

In addition, you can pretty much use the same argument for Korean (Hangul) and Japanese (Hiragana/Katakana) as well. Officially, they don't use "oh", but "o" as a syllable. So from our perspective, "Goh" isn't even an Asian character.

I am not sure what you're getting at. Goh is a Chinese and Korean surname (sorry for missing the latter?), and my point was that it isn't a typical Japanese romanization. Besides, very few Pokemon characters have Asian names after localization, and I see no reason for Go to be an exception. I don't like the dissonance; it would be interesting if Go were actually from a China or Korea-based region, but that isn't the case. He's from Kanto just like Ash, who isn't called Satoshi.

I'd also find "Gou" rather silly, if I'm being honest, but at least it would make more sense. So I'm just going to keep calling him Go.

 

[JinksChow]

I am not sure what you're getting at. Goh is a Chinese and Korean surname (sorry for missing the latter?), and my point was that it isn't a typical Japanese romanization. Besides, very few Pokemon characters have Asian names after localization, and I see no reason for Go to be an exception. I don't like the dissonance; it would be interesting if Go were actually from a China or Korea-based region, but that isn't the case. He's from Kanto just like Ash, who isn't called Satoshi.

I'd also find "Gou" rather silly, if I'm being honest, but at least it would make more sense. So I'm just going to keep calling him Go.

Except the Chinese character you're referring to is pronounced "Wu" (Mandarin) or "Ng" (Cantonese). Try clicking on the actual Wikipedia page itself, only a very specific dialect in China would pronounce that Chinese character as 'Go'.

The same applies for the Korean character, which is often pronounced "Ko" rather than "Goh".

 

[Nodqfan]

So how does this news affect all the past series does it mean that they will leave other streaming platforms like Hulu/Amazon Prime and be exclusive to Netflix like Journeys?

 

[Adelon]

I am not sure what you're getting at. Goh is a Chinese and Korean surname (sorry for missing the latter?), and my point was that it isn't a typical Japanese romanization. Besides, very few Pokemon characters have Asian names after localization, and I see no reason for Go to be an exception. I don't like the dissonance; it would be interesting if Go were actually from a China or Korea-based region, but that isn't the case. He's from Kanto just like Ash, who isn't called Satoshi.

I'd also find "Gou" rather silly, if I'm being honest, but at least it would make more sense. So I'm just going to keep calling him Go.

"Goh" is the character's first name and it doesn't really sound Chinese to my ears, even if it did, Japan does a have small population of immigrants from other Asian countries so it's entirely possible his family have ancestry in the Pokemon world's version of China.