Haim Saban has reacquired the rights to his best-known franchise, the Power Rangers, from the Walt Disney Co. and has licensed the program to Nickelodeon in a bid to refresh the children’s program, the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog reports.

The move marks the first purchase made by Saban’s new brands and licensing company, Saban Brands. The terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. "Power Rangers" reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s, when the show about teenaged superheroes dressed in colorful spandex outfits was broadcast on Fox, the article says.

The 18th season of the program, currently in development, will debut on Nickelodeon at the start of 2011. The franchise had fallen out of favor at Disney, which bought the brand as part of its 2001 purchase of the ABC Family cable channel (formerly called Fox Family Worldwide) from Saban and Fox, because research had shown that mothers didn’t approve of the show’s violence. according to the article.

Disney decided to keep its brand off Power Rangers, and started to shop around the franchise about a year ago.