Pokémon TV Will Be Discontinued In March
What kind of streamer guy are you? How do you watch the things you do? Learn what your options will be.
It wasn’t enough that Nintendo 3DS online services are shuttering in April, or that most of Paramount’s TV Everywhere portfolio is going the same way. But now, Pokémon masters are going to need to fly a little higher to watch the long-running anime for free. The Pokémon Company has announced they are sunsetting the Pokémon TV app and website on March 28.
The message in the app reads “Please be aware that the Pokémon TV service will no longer be available as of March 28, 2024. Thanks for watching Pokémon TV!” This closure extends across all platforms including the Nintendo Switch, Apple App Store, Google Play, Roku, and Amazon Appstore. The app is no longer available for download beginning the day of publishing, January 8, but still functional until closure.
As of writing, Pokémon TV has all 112 episodes of the first two seasons in circulation covering Kanto and the Orange Islands, which has been classified as “The Beginning” since 2013. Netflix has only the first 52, considered the first broadcast season. Infamously, not only are there 5 banned episodes (either undubbed or pulled after air) but there are several episodes out of chronological order that cross over to the “season 2” listing. The Sun and Moon series, with Ultra Adventures and Ultra Legends, has also been available in full here, as has the first two seasons of the otherwise Netflix-exclusive in the States Journeys series, plus the first batch of the final season Ultimate Journeys. With this announcement, it seems reasonable to expect it won’t catch up. All of the franchise’s web series bar Paldean Winds, including Path to the Peak, Pokétoon, Hisuian Snow, Evolutions, Generations, Origins, Twilight Wings, and Bidoof’s Big Stand are here too but they’re probably known more for their YouTube presence. For the preschool crowd, there’s Pokémon KidsTV, which might have its own YouTube channel where it's already preserved. The app also has Players Cups and VGC and TCG regional and world championships on it, and those are definitely on YouTube too.
But with this no-cost ad-free option going away, what's left? Well, the franchise’s website has a complete guide. A very necessary guide. If you thought the splintering of Doctor Who was bad, Pokémon has a guide. Netflix still has, in addition to what's already been discussed, the Arceus Chronicles specials, the To Be A Pokémon Master epilogue, the new Pokémon Concierge series and the two most recent movies, which they had released as their own. And of course, they will be home to Horizons, the next main anime series, when it premieres in February. Prime Video not only streams the Gold and Silver, Advanced/Ruby and Sapphire and XY eras on their own but still has the Pokémon Prime Video Channel, just like Max, Paramount+, Acorn, Boomerang, and other streaming services do, requiring a subscription that allows access to, in this case everything Pokémon (but not the full array of movies). That seems to be its own thing and will stand as the closest thing to Pokémon TV going forward. Ruby and Sapphire is “shared” with Freevee, and XY is shared with Hulu but is not included in the beta stages of incorporation into Disney+. The Roku Channel has Sun & Moon, Tubi has Black & White, and something called Hoopla has the Diamond and Pearl series. Maybe it’s time to get everything unified somewhere, someone to be what the iPlayer is for Doctor Who. Funny enough, the anime moved to CBBC and iPlayer starting with Horizons.
