Saban Entertainment distributed the
Power Rangers series from 1993 until the end of 2001, and Fox broadcast it until the
fall of 2002.
The Walt Disney Company purchased the franchise as a part of a buyout that took place in 2001.
[1][12][13][14] This resulted in Fox Family Worldwide becoming
ABC Family Worldwide Inc.[14] This buyout also saw Saban Entertainment becoming BVS Entertainment, from
News Corporation, Fox's parent company, and
Haim Saban.
[14] The show continued to air on Fox until the company replaced its
Fox Kidspackage with "FoxBox" in the United States. Since September 2002, all
Power Rangers shows have aired on various Disney-owned networks (
ABC Kids,
Toon Disney and
Jetix channels worldwide).
[12] ABC Family, another Disney-owned network, also used to air
Power Rangers until it did away with its Jetix timeslot after August 31, 2006. On February 12, 2009, Toon Disney ended in the wake of
Disney XD, ending cable airings of
Power Rangers in certain areas of the United States. Several ABC affiliate broadcasting groups, most notably
Hearst-Argyle Television and
Allbritton,
[citation needed] have declined to air most of the
Power Rangers series since 2006 due to the lack of FCC-compliant
educational and informational content in the programs.
[15] An article in
The New Zealand Herald published on March 7, 2009 identified
RPM as the last season of the
Power Rangers run. Production manager Sally Campbell stated in an interview, "...at this stage we will not be shooting another season."
[3][16] A September 1, 2009, revision to
Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia by Disney's head archivist
Dave Smith states that "production of new episodes [of
Power Rangers] ceased in 2009".
[17] On October 1, 2009, Bandai released a press release that Disney would re-broadcast
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers starting in January 2010 on
ABC Kids. A new toy line accompanied the series and appeared in stores in the later part of 2009.
[4][5][12]ABC's over-the air telecasts ended on August 28, 2010, as they returned the hour back to their affiliates to do as they please.
In mid-2010, Haim Saban's
Saban Brands bought the
Power Rangers franchise back from Disney for $43 million
[18] and will produce a new eighteenth season of
Power Rangers, now subtitled
Samurai, which will begin airing on
Nickelodeon February 7, 2011,
[7][19] with the previous 700 episodes being rerun on
Nicktoons sometime in early 2011.
[19][20][21] It was also announced that Saban plans to make a new Power Rangers movie.
[22] On July 26, 2010, it was announced that Saban Brands awarded the international television distribution rights for Power Rangers to
MarVista Entertainment
