Dusty Ayres
Commodore
In its financial statement for the third quarter of 2008 which ran from July 1 to September 30, 4Kids Entertainment has revealed on Monday that it will end its programming on the Fox Network at the end of this year. The current seventh season of 4Kids TV's Saturday morning block on Fox includes episodes of Kirby: Right Back At Ya! and Sonic X. Fox had originally scheduled the block to run through September of next year. To back out of the contract, 4Kids had to settle with Fox for an undisclosed amount. The relationship between 4Kids and Fox started in 2002, when the block launched under the name FoxBox. The block has aired numerous anime, including One Piece, Shaman King, and Tokyo Mew Mew. Last year, 4Kids signed a similar agreement with The CW Network to run original and licensed cartoons over a five-hour Saturday morning block and sell ads to be aired during that time. According to 4Kids CEO Alfred E. Kahn, the dissolution of the Fox contract will allow 4Kids "to focus resources" on its CW programming going into 2009.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-11-10/4kids-to-terminate-fox-programming-block-in-december