In lieu of the recent report of the Sonic SatAM rights being released by USA, I felt I should expand on it a bit more as things were still left a bit hazy and I still kept getting queries on it.
First of all – what this means is simply this: SatAM is NOT back on the air nor will it be airing on Cartoon Network UNLESS it, or another company buys the rights. And theres certainly no guarantee of that happening. Sonic SatAM only contains 26 episodes – which isnt exactly considered “syndication gold” in the business. It only means that someone else acquiring the liscense is one of MANY MANY possibilities.
Secondly, to answer some more questions that were directed – no this does not mean new episodes. The show’s been dead in the water for 6 years, so to those cartoonophobes still screaming SatAM’s coming back – deal with it: it’s dead. If DiC and Sega decided to go on with Sonic Underground then theres no way in heck they may revive SatAM by now. Its been FAR TOO long unless they just revamp the show entirely. Stuff like that just don’t happen in the animation biz. ^_^
The third and final contingency factor is that of Toon Disney, and Buena Vista Studios: current owners of the liscense to the “Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog” series, with Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts, etc. Now – the past has proven that if one Sonic show is in syndication, other series most likely will follow that other show. Remember, USA also owned both SatAM and AoSTH together. Deciding to not run cartoons ANYMORE, USA lost the liscenses to ALL thier major cartoons with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Janurary 1, 2000. SatAM _WAS_ included in these cartoon losses. However – both it, AoSTH, and Sonic Underground are produced by DiC. DiC is a subsidiary and is partly owned by Disney.
If and only if SatAM was to appear again – nine times out of ten: Toon Disney would get it and NOT Cartoon Network, since Cartoon Network is owned by Time Warner and AOL. So writing letters to Cartoon Network will most likely do NO GOOD, since its Disney that owns the biggest liscence of them all AoSTH with its 66 episodes and parts of SU with its ownership of DiC. The larger the amount of eps – the better chance for syndication depending on popularity and demographics. And both SU, SatAM, and AoSTH really aren’t all that popular on both ends of the stick. If SatAM is to ever appear again in reruns, the best bet is to write letters to Toon Disney and NOT Cartoon Network, as CN has other plans for its scheduling lineup. Hope that clarified a LOT of questions guys. Later. ^_^