What killed AnimeCentral?

J

J_C_X

Great Teacher
Was it the viewers? No.

BARB figures recently released now show that AnimeCentral viewing figures are higher consistency that of NME (the channel that replaced it). While it may not not spectactular at first glance, it is important to remember that AnimeCentral was only available on one platform (Sky). It would also out rank Nuts TV which was available on Freeview.

It begs the question then what killed AnimeCentral did the distributors get greedy?
 
Probably the Japanese asking for extortionate tv license fees for the shows that were meant to be aired. It got stuck repeating GITS:SAC over and over didn't it. Licensing issues ruin everything.
 
It was Professor Plum, in the library with the spanner!But seriously, I think Melonpan raises a good point,but I would also think that a lack of planning would have played a part, for example they had no shows lined up after the likes of witch hunter robin had been repeated, by which point they could not afford to buy any new licenses due to the point (Melonpan raised),or for that matter renew some of their "big" shows such as Gundam Seed.At this point they may have realised that they needed to gain some more funds fast, so they did the only thing they could do:attempt to draw in new and potential viewers.This was carried out through the repetition of some of the more popular licenses they held like Cowboy Bebop, and the addition of competitions and sponsorships(HMV for the release of Earthsea).Whilst this may have provided some funding,they still had the problem of license fees for the shows they were airing, which probably pulled them to the point of only being able to renew what they had, and thus the seeming slow death of the channel.Well that's my guess anyway! ^_^.Sometimes, late at night I can still hear the faint echo of Tank! through the empty and desolate halls of Showcase tv....0_o
 
Oh besides the fact that no one can air anime without making a total pig's arse out of it?

But yeah, I think it was probably licencing, I'll give you anything that TV rights default to the american or even japanese side of things and the UK companies never get a look in.

Unless it's MVM, in which case it's "Idiot at the wheel", lookin' at you, YYH, your an awesome TV series, but a hard sell at £20 a disk when you never got past EP 26...

And licence red tape still gets in our way. Thankfuly, most of TV Tokyo's libary is now clear of the nonsene (Viewtiful Joe and Fairy Musketeers - which as a side is a realy fun show and a good watch - are now watchable over here) but you still can't watch anything Toei's realesed on CR for love nor money.

And Media Blasters? Well, they can just get lost for all I care.

But yeah, a cross of red tape and red tape, realy.
 
Which brings me to my next question, since it's mostly licensing issues that killed Anime Central, is there any reason why the Japanese are asking a high price point for a foreigner TV company to license their show and put it on air?
 
Ammy said:
Which brings me to my next question, since it's mostly licensing issues that killed Anime Central, is there any reason why the Japanese are asking a high price point for a foreigner TV company to license their show and put it on air?
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Not really, the odd company might pay but the fact of the matter is: they don't need the money.
 
Jayme said:
Ammy said:
Which brings me to my next question, since it's mostly licensing issues that killed Anime Central, is there any reason why the Japanese are asking a high price point for a foreigner TV company to license their show and put it on air?
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Not really, the odd company might pay but the fact of the matter is: they don't need the money.
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Not particularly true in any respect. What it comes down to is that they have a very strict view of how much a given title is worth. How they come up with this figure, I don't know but it is heavily dependant upon how much it cost to produce it. Given that the production budget of a 13 episode show and a 26 episode show are roughly the same (total, not per episode cost) it makes 26 episode shows more economically viable than shorter ones. This naturally rules out a great raft of excellent short anime series out of the running since, for the same price, you will fill up only half of your available time-slots. The other factor is based upon perceived popularity, which may (probably) come from their own (Japanese) viewing figures and may not accurately reflect how well it will work on British/foreign networks.

The other problem that Anime Central, in particular, came up against was running as a dedicated anime channel. Anime is not sympathetic to being shown in such abundance, being designed as weekly installments show over the course of a season or 2. This makes it ideal for a show amongst a wider variety of shows at a more steady pace rather than shown on an episode-a-day basis. Showing it at a slower pace would provide the channel providers with a longer span in which to negotiate new deals long before the old licences have expired.
 
Gawyn said:
Jayme said:
Ammy said:
Which brings me to my next question, since it's mostly licensing issues that killed Anime Central, is there any reason why the Japanese are asking a high price point for a foreigner TV company to license their show and put it on air?
Click to expand...
Not really, the odd company might pay but the fact of the matter is: they don't need the money.
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Not particularly true in any respect.
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I dunno, the Japanese anime industry, although can make profit via the US, it's not necessarily that profitable. Their industry can sustain itself with the high merchandise and DVD costs and the rest of it. They make anime for themselves [read: otakus], otherwise we'd see a hell of a lot more of it set in the Upper East Side, than, say... none.

I do indeed agree with everything you said associated with AnimeCentral, though.
 
Ammy said:
Which brings me to my next question, since it's mostly licensing issues that killed Anime Central, is there any reason why the Japanese are asking a high price point for a foreigner TV company to license their show and put it on air?
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Same reason why americans might not get why we air a show in two 15 minute parts, they have no basis for anything, including how much a show may be worth to a country such as the UK.

Example, I will give you anything that if nothing else, Turner UK wanted badly to continue airing one piece (warts and all, I was under the impression that One Piece did fairly well for Toonami UK).
However, Toei has absolutely no inciling of a clue how to work with the United Kingdom (Which might shed some light into Digimon and Sailor Moon geting the shaft too when one thinks about it...) and hence ether a) didn't option it to the uk, leaving Turner to just go "**** it" and go with what they had (of what questionable quality it is) or b) got one piece caught up in some legal red tape that makes it exclusive to mainland europe or such.
 
I don't know what killed it....but if the views where higher than NME then part of me isn't surpised really.....NME has had so much endorsement byt the likes of Indy bands and even Ricky gervais used to do Podcasts for them.....thus proves that people need anime more than crap music :thumb:

On a personal note....the repeats where starting to bug me....you had two shows you could choose to watch.....Cowboy bebop or GITS......both great anime's.....but not something i personally want to watch 100 times *sigh*


SundayMorningCall, if you do that can i request some anime that would be worth showing... Full Metal Alchemist, Deathnote, Bleach, Dragonball Z, GITS 2nd gig ;), Patlabor, Gundam Seed, Naruto shippuden, The Ghibli studio's films (especially my neighbour totoro and porco rosso :p)
 
Tachi- said:
SundayMorningCall, if you do that can i request some anime that would be worth showing... Full Metal Alchemist, Deathnote, Bleach, Dragonball Z, GITS 2nd gig ;), Patlabor, **Gundam 00**, Naruto shippuden, The Ghibli studio's films (especially my neighbour totoro and porco rosso :p)
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Sorry Tach i had to fix that :p rest of your list is fine. You know i wish we could just have the amercian Sci-Fi channel is doing, just a weekly block, in fact they are airing Gundam 00 on that now.
 
BlackWolf said:
Tachi- said:
SundayMorningCall, if you do that can i request some anime that would be worth showing... Full Metal Alchemist, Deathnote, Bleach, Dragonball Z, GITS 2nd gig ;), Patlabor, **Gundam 00**, Naruto shippuden, The Ghibli studio's films (especially my neighbour totoro and porco rosso :p)
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Sorry Tach i had to fix that :p rest of your list is fine. You know i wish we could just have the amercian Sci-Fi channel is doing, just a weekly block, in fact they are airing Gundam 00 on that now.
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Sadly i'm starting to take up a liking for mechs....yes black i blame you and Armoured core For Answer lol
 
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