The
4Licensing Corporation (formerly
4Kids Entertainment) is an American
licensing company. The company was previously also a
film and
television production company that English-
dubbed Japanese
anime through its subsidiary
4Kids Productions between 1992 and 2012; it specialized in the acquisition, production and licensing of children's entertainment around the United States. The first anime that
4Kids Productions dubbed was the first eight seasons of
Pokémon that aired on
Kids' WB! in the United States. The company is most well known for its range of television licenses, which has included the multibillion-dollar
Pokémon and
Yu-Gi-Oh! Japanese anime franchises. They also ran two program blocks:
Toonzai (originally The CW4Kids) on
The CW, and
4Kids TV on
Fox, both aimed at children. The 4KidsTV block ended on December 27, 2008; Toonzai/The CW4Kids block ended on August 18, 2012, to be replaced by
Saban's Vortexx.