The long-time home for the Pokémon anime, the Pokémon TV app, was announced to be discontinued in the coming months by The Pokémon Company. While no one is quite sure what this means yet, many fans have sparked hope that it might finally result in the entire series being streamable on one service for the first time ever.
The app, which allowed fans to watch a rotating selection of seasons of the Pokémon anime for free, was announced on January 8th to be ending service on March 28, 2024. The Pokémon TV app was immediately removed from app stores across the web when the announcement was made, but those who already have the app installed may be able to continue using it until the shutdown date. The ability to use the app’s login system is said to be going down next week on January 15, making it impossible to transfer watch history and progress between devices.
The Pokémon TV app originally launched over a decade ago, so the service at least saw some long-term use before being discontinued.
What Will This Mean for the Pokémon Anime’s Streaming Future?
At present, trying to watch the Pokémon anime online can be an exercise in frustration; the first season is on Netflix, along with the three most recent seasons, while Amazon Prime Video has almost everything in between. Netflix is also known to be the home for the still upcoming English dub of Pokémon Horizons, and just recently put out its own stop-motion animated series, Pokémon Concierge. Other services, including Hulu, Roku, and Freevee, have a smattering of available seasons as well, often restricted to just one era of the show. While Pokémon TV didn’t have everything available at all times, its rotation did allow patient users to watch the entire series for free without ads.
While no reason was given for the sunsetting of the Pokémon TV service, many fans immediately began speculating that this might be the first step to solving the series’ streaming woes. It’s possible that the time has come around to renegotiate some licensing contracts, and offering exclusivity of the whole series to one service would come at the cost of losing Pokémon TV, since it would effectively be a free competitor to whoever licenses the series. Given that Netflix has been the home of new releases in the US for some time now, many fans seem to believe that they’re the most likely service to pick up all the past seasons.
Pokémon TV’s Removal Could Hint at The Entire Series Finding Another Streaming Home
Aside from the main series anime, Pokémon TV was also home to several of the miniseries which have been created over the years, such as Pokémon Generations, which will remain available via Youtube. While Pokémon TV may not have been an amazing app, its access to ad-free children’s content made it a valuable resource for parents, who could feel confident that their children wouldn’t stumble across something not meant for them. Fans may lament the loss of the service, but hopefully, those anticipating a big shake-up to Pokémon‘s streaming situation are right, and Pokémon TV’s loss won’t have been in vain.
Stream Episodes of Pokémon on Netflix
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