Saban Revisited
Jeff Harris, February 3, 2002 (edited updated August 2002)
Nobody saw this coming.
In the summer of 2001, The Walt Disney Company purchased Fox Family Worldwide, including Fox Family Channel, the Fox Kids library, and Saban Entertainment, killing the decade-old Fox Kids block on the Fox network as we know it in one fell swoop. Fox Family became ABC Family, and the Fox Kids lineup was stripped from weekdays and Saturdays to only Saturday mornings. The latter, however, wasn't Disney's doing. In the original agreement, Disney was going to sell programming to Fox, but Fox decided to scrap that arrangement and actually considered many options before 4Kids Entertainment bought the weekend block.
For Saban, the unit that brought shows like Digimon and the Power Ranger franchises to America, this was a bittersweet divorce, and now the studio is part of the Disney company, lock, stock, and barrel. For the first time in its long history, Saban is also in an interesting position.
Saban is going to play a major part in the rebuilding of ABC Family, and possibly the ABC Saturday morning and Toon Disney lineups. Think about it for a moment. When Fox Family was part of Fox Broadcasting, they had to worry about creating counterprogramming to each other, which explains why Fox Kids was aimed towards males and Fox Family was aimed more towards a female audience. ABC Family's main competitors (in the Disney family that is) are ABC, Disney Channel, and Toon Disney. Saban already has a vast library of cartoons and actively produce animated and live-action programs. Consider the fact that ABC only airs animated programming on Saturdays, Saban Entertainment will still be producing shows. It's already a well-known fact that a number of former Fox Kids shows will be a part of ABC Family when the network revamps the lineup sometime in the spring. Plus, the fall lineups for the 2002-03 season haven't been announced for ABC nor ABC Family yet, but it's a sure bet that a Saban series will be on at least ABC Family. Perhaps the Power Rangers and Digimon franchises will find a new life on ABC Family. Perhaps the next big Saban series might make an impact on ABC or Toon Disney. Maybe, just maybe, ABC Family and Saban might create a block that could compete with the likes of Slime Time Live on Nickelodeon or the popular Toonami block on Cartoon Network.
Like I said. Saban is in a very interesting position.
Update
The ABC 2002-03 lineup has been released five months after the publication of this article, totally transforming the ABC lineup from Disney's One Saturday Morning to the new ABC Kids. All but two shows (Teamo Supremo and Recess) were scrapped. Three series (Disney's Kim Possible, The Proud Family, and Lizzie McGuire) come from the Disney channel, and one new series, Disney's Filmore, is on the lineup. Not surprisingly, two series come from Saban Entertainment, Power Rangers Wild Force and Digimon (coming in November after college football season subsides), are a part of the new ABC Kids lineup. It has begun.
