DiC Entertainment appears to have successfully optioned 2 additional years for "Sailor Moon" ending speculation if the company could or would continue its interest in the property. The option includes the episodes which DiC produced and, at least, some of the merchandising rights. It is not yet clear if DiC will retain all of the rights it has had since new episodes were produced by Cloverway. Some rights appear to be in question. DiC is not expected to regain lost rights or gather new rights.

While the exact dates remain confidential it is believed that the option will run until the Summer of 2004. DiC's initial 7 year agreement was to end by the Summer of 2002. By the end of the option, the company will have had rights to "Sailor Moon" for a total of 9 years.

The Program Exchange has renewed its contract with DiC Entertainment to distribute the first 82 episodes of "Sailor Moon" in the United States. Fans interested in getting the series on television, in their part of the country, should contact their local stations to pick-up the program. A note to local television stations, The Program Exchange will not be attending NATPE this year (though DiC will).

The Cloverway Episodes
Broadcast of the Cloverway produced series, "Sailor Moon S" & "Sailor Moon SuperS" remain under the exclusive control (in the U.S.) of the Cartoon Network until June 2003. The network has no plans to air any Sailor Moon episodes, during any time period, in the foreseeable future. (However, there could be a clause in the contract which would free-up the Cloverway episodes if the network should fail to air them on some basis.)

The Cartoon Network has opted not to air the episodes since it has too many new programs in the pipeline for Toonami, from Kids' WB and its own in-house production unit. (The Cloverway episodes also suffer from low repeatability--they rate lower than repeats of other series.) It should be noted that the network did receive "excellent ratings" from the broadcast of the features.

It's possible that the Program Exchange could pick-up the syndication rights to the Cloverway series in June 2003.

More Stories From Ground Zero
Fans maybe interested in knowing that the staff of the Program Exchange did escape unharmed from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City (but unfortunately, it seems that almost everyone knew someone who was killed in the attacks).

The Program Exchange is within the Saatchi & Saatchi building at 375 Hudson Street. The building has large windows and had a wide open view of the World Trade Center towers. Depending upon how you count, they were just 10 or 12 small city blocks away.

One of the executives who handles "Sailor Moon" was on the subway when the first plane struck, then (while walking to their office building) they heard and then saw the second plane hit the other tower. Meanwhile, inside 375 Hudson Street, the staff there was watching the fire and then screamed as the second plane hit.

Later, they saw the first collapse of one of the towers. After that point, having had enough, some of the staff stopped watching and did not see the second tower collapse.

With all traffic & public transportation snarled (if not halted) in their part of the city and with the extent of the attacks still unknown (Manhattan might have been closed off from the other boroughs to prevent terrorists from getting in or out), the employees were told that they might have to sleep over in the building. The Program Exchange was making plans to sleep in shifts on the 4 couches on their floor until (around 2pm) they were given the go-ahead to go home.

Although they never encountered the huge plume of smoke and debris from the collapse of the towers, the air was filled with fumes and dust. (Which, according to some, did not fully clear up until 2 months later.) Staff members struggled to get home using all sorts of simple or makeshift respirator masks.

One executive, happily, wanted all Sailor Moon fans to know that, "The Program Exchange still stands!"

Sailor Moon = Enlightened Management?
Since everything below 14th street was closed off during the first week, employees could not return to work until sometime thereafter. Upon returning, employees discovered all sorts of messages of concern except for one from a California TV Station complaining that they hadn't received their episodes of "Garfield." Infuriated, one executive inferred that no "Sailor Moon" station would ever do that!