The Power Rangers are alive and kicking with $100-million deal

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Ben Fritz of Company Town reports that the Power Rangers have exited the House of Mouse...

One of the most popular — and reviled — icons of 1990s children’s television is back in the hands of the man who launched it.

Media mogul Haim Saban has bought back the rights to “Power Rangers,” the hit television show that fueled his dominance of children’s television in the 1990s, from Walt Disney Co., which took control of the property in 2001.

Saban has also signed a deal with Nickelodeon, Disney’s primary rival in the children’s TV business, to air 20 new episodes of “Power Rangers” that he will produce, along with a catalog of more than 700 episodes.

The deal is worth about $100 million, according to a person familiar with the situation. Saban declined to comment on the price. Originally known as “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” the low-budget series debuted in 1993 and consisted primarily of recycled footage from Japan of monsters battling teenage superheroes with many voices dubbed by American actors.

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-- Ben Fritz

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PHOTO: “Power Rangers” (Los Angeles Times archives)

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