Sony looking to launch their Animax anime channel in the UK

There is hope for Animax again. =o

LONDON - Sony is preparing to launch its three internationally distributed pay-TV channels in the UK as video-on-demand services.

Outside the UK, Sony operates three core pay-TV channel brands: high-energy action channel AXN, general entertainment channel Sony Entertainment Television and animé channel Animax. The channels are currently not available...
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SOURCE: http://www.brandrepublic.com/login/News/745080/
 
L said:
Video on demand?
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What are you asking here? If you are asking what Video on Demand is it is either paying for a channel as and when you want to watch it for a set amount of time (usually 24hrs), paying to watch a particular showing at a set time or paying a rental to watch a particular film/episode/programme as much as you like for a set amount of time (usually 24hrs).
 
Gawyn said:
L said:
Video on demand?
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What are you asking here? If you are asking what Video on Demand is it is either paying for a channel as and when you want to watch it for a set amount of time (usually 24hrs), paying to watch a particular showing at a set time or paying a rental to watch a particular film/episode/programme as much as you like for a set amount of time (usually 24hrs).
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Oh i see i thought it was another stream or download sorta system.
 
Here's the full article:

LONDON - Sony is preparing to launch its three internationally distributed pay-TV channels in the UK as video-on-demand services.

Outside the UK, Sony operates three core pay-TV channel brands: high-energy action channel AXN, general entertainment channel Sony Entertainment Television and animé channel Animax.

The channels are currently not available in the UK as linear services, but the company is weighing up plans for their introduction into the UK on an on-demand basis.

Ross Hair, senior vice-president of international networks for Sony Pictures Television International, said: "The UK is a very crowded market with lots of niches already well served. But we will bring these channels to the UK first as VoD services."

Hair declined to confirm when the services could launch, but said they would appear via the main UK VoD platforms in the short term.

Hair said that Sony is also mulling opportunities for a free-to-air ad-supported offering on Freeview, although such a move is dependent on new frequencies becoming available.

The digital terrestrial platform is currently at full capacity, with no new channel slots available.

Even if new capacity were to become available through improvements in signal-compression technology, it would likely come at a hefty cost: Channel 4 paid a reported £12m for a new channel slot in 2005.

Hair said: "As digital switchover progresses and there are more digital homes in the UK, the closer we will get to a point where the ­economics of running a channel on Freeview are improved."

Sony is one of the biggest pay-TV channel operators worldwide, with its channels reaching tens of millions of homes. But the outfit believes the UK market now offers few opportunities for pay-TV broadcasters.

Hair added: "Virgin Media is occupied with a lot of internal issues at the moment, such as creating its own content. At the same time, BSkyB has decided to cease taking new applications for channels. So prospects for new pay-TV channels in the UK are small."
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Milla said:
Here's the full article:
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Thanks for that Milla, extremely helpful =)

It seems there are a lot of problems stopping Sony from putting their channels here then, and for the forseeable future it looks like they're not going to be 'big' channels.
 
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Hair added: " BSkyB has decided to cease taking new applications for channels. So prospects for new pay-TV channels in the UK are small."
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That makes no sense as Sky have plenty of room on their EPG. Sky doesn't own any satellites so is not responsible for channel allocations. If all the Astra birds are fully booked there is plenty of spaces on the Eurobirds, so I don't know what Mr. Hair is on about with that.
 
Mohawk52 said:
Hair added: " BSkyB has decided to cease taking new applications for channels. So prospects for new pay-TV channels in the UK are small."
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That makes no sense as Sky have plenty of room on their EPG. Sky doesn't own any satellites so is not responsible for channel allocations. If all the Astra birds are fully booked there is plenty of spaces on the Eurobirds, so I don't know what Mr. Hair is on about with that.
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There are 8 million Sky boxes out there. No channel is going to want to be on satellite targeting a UK audience and not be on the Sky EPG. Looks like unless they've already booked a slot there's no chance of any new channel getting on Sky unless they are prepared to buy out an existing channel.

According to Sky the main reason for this limitation is the lack of memory in some types of set top boxes (STB’s) in Sky’s installed base.


http://www.copypaste.nl/568/sky-epg-full/

Sky announced that it will “cease to take further applications for places in the EPG launch queueâ€
 
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/show ... p?t=683064

For VoD, you’re mainly talking Virgin Media, BT Vision & Tiscali TV.

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) is looking to extend its channel presence in the UK via the action adventure AXN and the Japanese anime channel Animax that is carried in parts of Asia.

Ross Hair, SPTI senior vp, international networks said. "We're having discussions about launching Animax and AXN in the UK, the anime genre is gaining in popularity all of the time."

If Animax is the anime channel, AXN is pitched as high energy entertainment offering a wide selection of top quality action and adventure series, films and adventure sports series.

SPTI has no immediate plans to launch its channels through the UK's largest pay-TV operator, BSkyB, Hair added: "The market is already overcrowded and the Sky platform isn't allowing any new channels. But the channels will be made available on the main VOD platforms."

Details are sketchy, but SPTI expects the first tie-up with 'a major cable operator' before the end of the year.
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