4Kids Announces Third Quarter Earnings, Cancels Fox Programming Block

4Kids Entertainment has released its 3rd quarter earnings report, and the distributor of such successful properties such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon has stated that 4Kids will prematurely end its broadcast agreement with Fox at the end of the year in order to focus on its expanded agreement with the nascent CW Network which holds the broadcast rights to the crown jewels in the lineup in Pokemon Diamond&Pearl and Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds.

Fox had originally filed litigation earlier this year in order to prevent the premature cancellation of the programming block with 4Kids paying an undisclosed amount in a settlement. The block was a staple of the network since it began in 2002 under the name FoxBox with shows such as Sonic X, Tokyo Mew Mew, and F-Zero. 4Kids also announced that it has renegotiated its long reaching Yu-Gi-Oh license including broadcast, merchandise and video rights to 2015.

Earnings for the licensor grew slightly from $49.4 million up from $39 million last year, with the increase being offset by the increase in the selling, general, administrative expenses, and cost of goods sold in the Trading Card and Game Distribution businesses, coupled with decreased licensing and broadcast revenues with year to-date losses going up from $8.9 million in 2007 to $17.2 million this quarter.

The company is projecting a return to profitability by the end of the year via the increase in revenues from licensing, broadcast, and general sales from the various 4Kids properties such as the internally developed Chaotic trading card game/television series, and the SEGA developed Dinosaur King.