Quote Originally Posted by Otter Mii-kun View Post
I never expected that the Pokémon anime would move again, let alone to a Disney outlet. The fact that such a move occurred in the first place suggests to me one or more of the following:

*The Pokémon Company wanted to be able to better compete with the Yo-Kai Watch anime.
*Cartoon Network wasn't able to renew their contract with TPCI, because:
**CN was outbid or otherwise couldn't come to a license fee agreement with Pokémon (similarly to how NBC canceled the daytime run of Wheel of Fortune in 1989 because of a similar problem with said show's then-producer Merv Griffin Enterprises, with CBS picking up rights to the daytime show very shortly after NBC announced their cancellation.)
**The ratings for the more recent region arcs, including XYZ, didn't gather acceptable enough numbers on CN to warrant a contract renewal.
*Consolidation, consolidation! (Take into consideration how Disney XD's European counterpart already shows Pokémon.)
*Cartoon Network may be looking to get rid of certain genres (like how Kids' WB got rid of all anime as part of the move to The CW, essentially making such a move an anime version of CBS's "Rural Purge" of the early 1970s (in which CBS infamously cancelled the still-popular The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction.)
I think you may be on to something involving the things involving CN unable to renew their contract.

Currently Pokemon is being shown early morning around 6AM for me which is a deadzone timeslot (if you ask me). The only kids who are watching it live are ones who wake up that early which can't be too many. I know that I watch it via DVR and that is what some of the other kids at my League do as well. So we are not watching it live. Also, they never advertise Pokemon using commercials or anything. They only time Pokemon get commercial time is when they do a marathon and those don't happen often. Clearly CN doesn't place Pokemon high on their priority list.

So the fact that CN doesn't prioritize Pokemon a little bit would get me a bit upset if I was tPCI. Why stick to a network that doesn't even bother to put you at a decent timeslot with some rerun spots? Even if XYZ wasn't getting enough viewers, it surely didn't help that it was on early morning when most kids are asleep.

I don't like that it is changing networks but seeing how well Disney XD treats Yokai Watch, maybe it won't be such a bad deal. At least Disney XD gives YW some commercial time. My only worry is if Disney XD will be able to show weekly new episodes. They don't have a show that can constantly have new episodes like Pokemon plus a huge backlog as well. So we see if they can the gap of dub and Japanese episodes at three months like it has been for the last few years.