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NEWS: Bandai Entertainment Streams Code Geass on YouTube

samuelp wrote:

Perhaps, in the case of the internet, I could envision a process where all internet distribution rights were always global. But, in that case, what company in Japan would ever license those rights to anyone? They could get undercut in THEIR OWN MARKET, by whatever company they licensed to, through the internet. So such a rule would do nothing but actually encourage companies to never license anything to anyone else.

That's simple. They wouldn't have to involve anyone else in that situation. The only need for region licence would be for region language dubbing, and DVD sales, that could be when ever the studio feels like doing that, if ever. Anime has become a global entertainment business, and if those Japanese companies want to survive they need to operate like a global entertainment business. In short they need to up sync with the 21st Century, and become fansubbers themselves with a way to make money off of that. It's the main reason they're plagued with piracy and the only sure way to fight against it.

I've been wanting to watch CG for a while now, so when I saw this I thought "Great! I can watch it legally!" But oh no, it's US locked and there's no R2 subbed DVDS. Back to the original plan then...stupid Bandai, you've just lost yourself a customer

...I myself wouldn't exclusively blame Japan here. They may be charging the streaming fees in the first place, but since CG DVDs are already available outside of Japan they cannot adopt the system Gonzo are using on CR, for their actions could affect other companies who already own DVD rights.

There is no logical reason whatsoever why Canada should be locked out of viewing this. If there is, then I certainly hope that they have a lengthy explanation available to the public by Monday. Nobody owns the broadcast or streaming rights to the series in Canada, so there can't be any conflict with that, and extra bandwidth can't possibly be a concern on freaking YouTube of all services.

This can't possibly be anything but laziness on the part of the company, since not even Bandai's traditional sense of overprotectionism holds up here. I hope that the complaints about the lack of Canadian access aren't lost among all of the other region-blocking complaints. Yes, it is unfortunate, but it's going to take a long time for any company to be able to cut through all of that international red tape.

To be fair, Canada's fair dealing/trade laws or whatever are decidedly vague. I tried reading over them and I couldn't make sense of them despite the fact that I can usually make sense of a given law. So I can see how these companies would be hesitant to air something online in a country where the trade laws are ill-defined.

To be fair, Canada's fair dealing/trade laws or whatever are decidedly vague. I tried reading over them and I couldn't make sense of them despite the fact that I can usually make sense of a given law. So I can see how these companies would be hesitant to air something online in a country where the trade laws are ill-defined.

Unit 03.5-ish wrote:

To be fair, Canada's fair dealing/trade laws or whatever are decidedly vague. I tried reading over them and I couldn't make sense of them despite the fact that I can usually make sense of a given law. So I can see how these companies would be hesitant to air something online in a country where the trade laws are ill-defined.

if your talking NAFTA yes they are vague and that was canadas mistake signing something the US made up that could be so easily abused (softwood lumber tariffs, water rights...etc) NAFTA cost canada 1.5 billion dollars on the softwood issue just because the US decided they wanted to kill canadian lumber mill's the money is nothing compared to the 18 major mills permanently closed because the US tossed on 32% tariffs onto softwood for a couple years completely ignoring the contract law which made those tariffs illegal.
even after more than 15 NAFTA court judgments against the tariffs it took bribing the US with 1.5 billion dollars and leaving the mills closed to get back to normal trade. which no longer is normal trade since the US gets raw lumber for its mills and Canada gets less money for it as raw lumber instead of milled lumber.

until canadian producers stop thinking the only place to sell products is the US and start to actually make international contracts overseas they will continue to be dependent on the whims of the US government which seems to be turning to another protectionist era which does not bode well for trade issues in the near future.

I still feel Bandai Entertainment could have made a better decision. By using Youtube, I believe they cannot use streamed advertisements. Therefore they can only expect to earn back the money they spend through an increase in their DVD sales, thus they ought only to pay for streaming rights in their own country.
If some system of localised advertisements was used, Bandai Ent. could earn back the extra amount charged for streaming to other regions whilst still boosting their own DVD sales. Perhaps it could even provide a large enough fanbase for Bandai subsidiaries who do not own the rights to CG to consider releasing the DVDs themselves, similar to what pparker mentions.
...

dragoneyes001 wrote:

Unit 03.5-ish wrote: To be fair, Canada's fair dealing/trade laws or whatever are decidedly vague. I tried reading over them and I couldn't make sense of them despite the fact that I can usually make sense of a given law. So I can see how these companies would be hesitant to air something online in a country where the trade laws are ill-defined. if your talking NAFTA yes they are vague and that was canadas mistake signing something the US made up that could be so easily abused (softwood lumber tariffs, water rights...etc) NAFTA cost canada 1.5 billion dollars on the softwood issue just because the US decided they wanted to kill canadian lumber mill's the money is nothing compared to the 18 major mills permanently closed because the US tossed on 32% tariffs onto softwood for a couple years completely ignoring the contract law which made those tariffs illegal. even after more than 15 NAFTA court judgments against the tariffs it took bribing the US with 1.5 billion dollars and leaving the mills closed to get back to normal trade. which no longer is normal trade since the US gets raw lumber for its mills and Canada gets less money for it as raw lumber instead of milled lumber. until canadian producers stop thinking the only place to sell products is the US and start to actually make international contracts overseas they will continue to be dependent on the whims of the US government which seems to be turning to another protectionist era which does not bode well for trade issues in the near future.

Since when did this become a question of NAFTA and lumber trade? This seems pretty off-topic to me.

they make money from share advertisement revenue that post by youtube in bandait channel.
just like Kadokawa Gets Over 10 Million Yen Monthly from YouTube.

actually the discussion turned to why bandai has used regional blocking although region1 is USA/Canada they limited viewing to only the US region this is directly why an explanation of international relations between canada and the US needs clarifying because they do directly affect how some treaties will be handled internationally. NAFTA also includes entertainment trade and should force bandai to open the streams to canada but thats not the case because bandai is amongst a group of companies that deal in the US trying to exclude Canada because of Canada's interpretation of copyright laws in other words they are forcing the issue so that Canada will change their laws to suite their wants.

personally i'm against being blackmailed into conformity let bandai suffer as more people simply bypass their regional blocks because theres 6 billion people in the world its not up to 300 million to force their laws on the rest of us!

Spotlesseden wrote:

they make money from share advertisement revenue that post by youtube in bandait channel. just like Kadokawa Gets Over 10 Million Yen Monthly from YouTube.

If Youtube itself can earn Bandai Ent. advertising revenue for every viewing of one of their videos, then they already have the means to offer streaming to other countries whilst still earning money.