POP UK responds to fan enquiry about Dragon Ball Kai

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

POP has had massive success with Dragon Ball Super, which they only stopped rerunning sometime this year, from what I have seen.

I've always wondered why they didn't acquire any more Dragon Ball shows, but now thanks to my friend dbzforeverUK for writing an email the channel's team were kind enough to write a reply:

The Pop Team wrote:

Thanks so much for getting in contact with us and for tuning into our channels over the years.

We love hearing about what shows our viewers enjoy and what they would like to see more of! We'll pass your feedback onto our teams - we'll let them know that Dragon Ball Z Kai is a show that viewers would love to tune into and that anime is a genre that is highly requested.

Many thanks,
The Pop Team

Of course we all know how POP can make airing Kai even more of an event, and that is if they contact Ocean Studios in Vancouver asking for their dub rather than acquire the widely seen and already available Funimation dub.

If anyone still wants to see Ocean Kai please contact the channel at info@popfun.co.uk or via their Facebook to ensure that they seek out this dub if they decide to air the show.

Might also be worth mentioning Kai is hot property at the moment. Last year the show got dubs in multiple languages such as Polish, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada as well as a Hindi redub. This year Kai got a Castillian Spanish dub, which received a theatrical release for the first 4 episodes and a Dutch dub is coming, so now is the best time for a never-before-seen English dub, especially one with an established fanbase for actors like Brian Drummond and Scott McNeil.

This could be a great opportunity for the channel to have even more success with Dragon Ball, they've probably dropped Super after exhausting reruns of all 131 episodes, so if Kai does well (which it should do, especially if its Ocean's dub) Daima might come to the UK sooner than expected once an English dub gets underway.

I've also announced this on the Dragon Ball Ocean Dub Fans Facebook and Twitter pages, so let's spread the word so POP can finally give UK and Irish fans what we've wanted since Kai first aired on Kix back in 2012.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I think Toei should do one of their good ol package deals and say they should air Kai if they want Daima.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I think Toei should do one of their good ol package deals and say they should air Kai if they want Daima.

I like that idea, but POP need to be convinced Ocean's dub is the right option. Even though it was probably ruled out because they made no money on Kai 1.0 part of me wishes Ocean dubbed The Final Chapters as I worry some TV executive might see they only dubbed 98 episodes whereas Funimation dubbed 167 and go with the latter on the basis of there being more on offer.

Another reason Ocean Kai needs to get out is because the only hope we have of them dubbing more Dragon Ball is if it gets released and performs well that Ocean dubbing Final Chapters, Super and anything beyond is considered a worthwhile investment.

Although I'm not sure TOEI will be as strict this time about TV deals and whatever stipulations, if any, they want in place. Remember they seemed to have given up on getting Super a TV deal in the UK and Oceania back in 2017 as both Manga UK and Madman Entertainment were able to release it on home video, only for POP, ABC Me (Australia) and TVNZ 2 (New Zealand) to start airing it less than 2 years later. So there may be a fear of losing money if other distributors aren't allowed release Daima before POP.

[chalaheadchala1989]

Have they already started showing dbz kai or no?

.
If anyone still wants to see Ocean Kai please contact the channel at info@popfun.co.uk.

I contacted them

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Have they already started showing dbz kai or no?

Nope, but they still air Super every night at 9:32pm and 2:39am.

I contacted them

Thanks, even if its a remote chance every request matters.

[LostTimeLord]

Given that Kix was one of Pop's sister channels, they should have a reasonable idea of how well Kai would do. Of course, the staff may not be the same now that the channel's changed owners twice, but they'll surely have the old viewing/adverting data and - more concerningly as far as the Ocean dub goes - they may even still have the old broadcast masters. And while it wouldn't hurt to let them know that they could pick up a world-exclusive dub... their target audience is ages 6-10 - Kai would be new to them regardless, even if they're not already familiar with the Texas cast.

We all want Ocean's Kai to finally be released, but what's in it for Pop?

[MasenkoHA]

We all want Ocean's Kai to finally be released, but what's in it for Pop?

Absolutely nothing. If Pop has already aired Super, there is a familiarity with the Texas cast anyways.

We know Ocean never dubbed Boo Kai and Crunchymation apparently did dub an edited for kids tv version “just in case” so that’s another leg up they have over Ocean.

I know a lot of fans want Ocean Kai to air on tv, despite traditional television having been irrelevant for about a decade now but a “ Internet leak” really is y’alls best hope

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Sadly Pop is no longer an option for the Ocean dub of Kai as Narrative Entertainment will shut down the linear channels and apps next month.

Karolina Kaminska wrote:

Narrative Entertainment in the UK will close its Pop and Tiny Pop kids’ linear channels, as well as the Pop Player app, in December, C21 has learned.

Free-to-air preschool channel Tiny Pop and older-skewing Pop were launched in the UK by CSC Media Group in 2003 before being acquired by Sony Pictures Television in 2014 and then by Narrative Entertainment in 2021. They are currently available on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media.

Pop is the only dedicated free-to-air (FTA) commercial kids’ broadcaster in the UK, since the closure of ITV’s linear children’s channel CITV in 2023. Pop and Tiny Pop’s closure leaves public broadcaster the BBC’s CBBC and CBeebies brands and Paramount-owned 5’s Milkshake! preschool strand as the only remaining FTA linear channels for kids in the UK.

Tiny Pop was initially removed from linear TV in March 2024 but was reinstated five months later – a decision that Narrative MD Paul Dunthorne said at the time would allow it to better serve its audience.

The latest move comes after the closure of sister linear channel Pop Max, which left Freeview in December last year and Sky in January this year, with its content moving to Pop and Pop Player.

The Pop and Tiny Pop FAST channels will continue, however, as will sister FAST channel Pop Up.

Pop airs series including Pokemon, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir and Alvin & the Chipmunks. Tiny Pop’s offering includes Masha & the Bear, Gabby’s Dollhouse, PJ Masks and Elmo’s World.

The channel closures come during a crisis in the kids’ TV industry, with children rapidly defecting from linear viewing to streaming and social video platforms like YouTube.

Four months ago, pay TV channel Sky Kids announced it will cease commissioning children’s programmes in favour of third-party acquisitions. The BBC, meanwhile, revealed plans in 2022 to close the CBBC linear channel and convert it to a digital-only brand. Those plans have been put on hold, however, so as not to disadvantage children who don’t have internet access at home.

Narrative said its decision to close the Pop and Tiny Pop linear channels, which only offer acquisitions, comes as a result of the drop in linear consumption among young viewers.

Dunthorne said: “With commercial value across the UK kids’ TV market now just 4% of what it was 10 years ago, we’ve taken the decision to close our linear Pop channel at the end of the year. We understand the importance of offering high-quality kids’ TV, and we’ve done everything that we can to maintain Pop. But free-to-air channels for this audience are simply not commercially viable without public service broadcaster-style funding.

“We will retain our Pop presence on FAST channels in the UK on Freeview, Samsung, LG and other platforms, and internationally, as these continue to offer commercial opportunities.”

Focus now will be on HBO Max for when it launches in the UK next year as the heads of Adult Swim Europe have been made aware we want anime on their service, and of course streaming is the future.

[madged1]

Sadly Pop is no longer an option for the Ocean dub of Kai as Narrative Entertainment will shut down the linear channels and apps next month.

Focus now will be on HBO Max for when it launches in the UK next year as the heads of Adult Swim Europe have been made aware we want anime on their service, and of course streaming is the future.

It's a shame that Pop is closing, I have fond memories of watching the 90s Sonic cartoons on the channel when I was a kid, and Pop (along with sister channel Kix) was a great outlet for Dragon Ball on UK TV. I'm not overly surprised that it's closing down as streaming seems to be more popular than ever and will continue to dominate the TV market I'm sure. It would be interesting to see if HBO Max picks up any anime when it launches in the UK next year.

[90sDBZ]

Guess this means Super will finally end its reruns on UK TV, and will only be on streaming going forward. It had a great run though, being on the air for over 6 years (Z lasted just over 5 years back in the day).

In all honesty this will probably be the last time anything DB related gets broadcast on traditional UK TV. It's kind of sad, but at least all the shows are available on Crunchyroll.

I expect Daima's dub will eventually end up on BBC iPlayer.

[LostTimeLord]

In all honesty this will probably be the last time anything DB related gets broadcast on traditional UK TV.
[...]
I expect Daima's dub will eventually end up on BBC iPlayer.

I think there's a reasonable chance that CBBC (or BBC Three?) will air Daima on traditional TV. If anything, that would explain why the dub hasn't come out yet. Either way, iPlayer is the most obvious fit; if Netflix or Crunchyroll had picked up the dub, they'd surely have added it by now. I'd love to know how well One Piece has done for them, as a point of reference.

Also, Dragonball Evolution remains an 11am staple for Film 4, so, err... there's that.

[M0nsoon07]

Perhaps I should start contacting BBC/CBBC/BBC3 about my ideas haha- it wouldn’t be under the Toonami name lol

I did a while back but never heard back from them

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Perhaps I should start contacting BBC/CBBC/BBC3 about my ideas haha- it wouldn’t be under the Toonami name lol

I did a while back but never heard back from them

I say go for it, BBC iPlayer has had Super so they'd be crazy to not look into acquiring more Dragon Ball, especially content that would have the cast a lot of UK fans grew up with.