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NEWS: ADV Films Removes Titles from Website - Update 2

Well, whatever is going on is affecting the Anime Network as well. My VOD schedule did not update this week, stuff dropped off, but nothing new was added.

{a bunch of stuff I agree with on why most of my purchases these days go to TRSI rather than ADV-directly except on the older properties and bargain box sets}

Oh, yeah, ADV used to also give you a "free gift" (Hello Kitty dvds? I want Hello Kitty dvds? I had Knights of the Zodiac in my order & they think their "gift is something I want? Ok, they did send me a Slayers movie. Of course I HAVE all the slayers movies)

ADV's dvds were always drilled or sliced to mark them as returned stock. I can't recall if the Geneon were thus marked.

I mean, can I order straight from Japan?

If so, will those episodes have English sub titles?

Will they play on an "American" DVD player? (that's called R1, isn't it?)

Since someone bumped this thread, let me cross post my summary of just the facts that we know as of current date:

Timeline

1. ~Jan 27th - ADV suddenly removed a large number of titles from its website, by essentially partially rolling back the state of the site to a ~2 year old version.
2. Jan 28th - Animenewsnetwork noticed this, and when they asked ADV about it they got "no comment".
3. Jan 29th - An article by ICV2 was discovered using Google's cache that states that ADV sent out a letter to retailers saying that they are putting 37 titles on indefinite hiatus due to licensing issues with their licensing partner ARM corporation, which was set up by Sojitz 2 years ago when they invested in ADV to help ADV license
titles. The article implies that ADV no longer has permission to sell these titles and is working to get that back. The article never actually appeared on ICV2s real website, however.
4. Jan 30 - The head of the ICV2 website makes a statement that the mysterious article was written "just in case", but that circumstances had changed and it was no longer accurate (he did not say in what way it was no longer accurate).
5. Jan 30 - ADV finally makes a statement, saying that they are aware that fans are upset, and that they are "working through some short-term difficulties" but "fully intend to continue to release their series".
6. Feb 1 - A source at ADV leaks info to ICV2 about their decision to go with the Blu-ray disc format, and mentions that due to needing to obtain new HD masters, some titles may be delayed.
7. Feb 12th - ADV's scheduled releases on this date (including Kanon vol 2) do not arrive at retailers (although a few copies were shipped
to people who preorded before the beginning on this incident).
Robert's anime corner store states that all ADV titles are delayed, and will be rescheduled to a later date (he does not mention when, or how far).

Throughout: ADV has been completely silent about the issue with the exception of the one statement they made above. No reps or spokespeople have appeared on any message boards or made any statements publicly. No sites have received screener DVDs for reviews, either.

The current state: The titles are still removed from the website, and ADV does not seem to be shipping any DVDs of those series to retailers at all. No public statements have been made about why this is or how long it will continue.

After reading the timeline from the looks of it,I can honestly assume that ADV will NOT make a statement, and will not release any new titles until March, when both it's fiscal report for 2007 is made and when it launches PiQ.

Most likely, this license issue has already been cleared up. ADV only had temporary licenses on this titles so it's obvious they'd had to remove them from the market if it expired in February. Rest assured If I were anyone, I'd wait until March.

TornadoTatsumaki wrote:

After reading the timeline from the looks of it,I can honestly assume that ADV will NOT make a statement, and will not release any new titles until March, when both it's fiscal report for 2007 is made and when it launches PiQ. Most likely, this license issue has already been cleared up. ADV only had temporary licenses on this titles so it's obvious they'd had to remove them from the market if it expired in February. Rest assured If I were anyone, I'd wait until March.

A) ADV is not a public company and does not release public quarterly fiscal reports.

B) I don't know where you're getting this "temporary licenses" idea from, but that concept does not exist in the physical media business.

jsevakis wrote:

TornadoTatsumaki wrote: After reading the timeline from the looks of it,I can honestly assume that ADV will NOT make a statement, and will not release any new titles until March, when both it's fiscal report for 2007 is made and when it launches PiQ. Most likely, this license issue has already been cleared up. ADV only had temporary licenses on this titles so it's obvious they'd had to remove them from the market if it expired in February. Rest assured If I were anyone, I'd wait until March. A) ADV is not a public company and does not release public quarterly fiscal reports. B) I don't know where you're getting this "temporary licenses" idea from, but that concept does not exist in the physical media business.

March is the month that ADV always annouces new licenses and titles, all titles also recieve copyright changovers during March that is what I meant to say. Most likely, they will release these titles in March.

In samuel's post, he stated that ADV has NOT made any public statements reguarding any license matters but that IVC2 reported that ADV's license on about 3 dozen new titles expired in February and that they're trying to renew their licenses with ARM and Sojitz corp.

March is the month that ADV always annouces new licenses and titles, all titles also recieve copyright changovers during March that is what I meant to say. Most likely, they will release these titles in March.

In samuel's post, he stated that ADV has NOT made any public statements reguarding any license matters but that IVC2 reported that ADV's license on about 3 dozen new titles expired in February and that they're trying to renew their licenses with ARM and Sojitz corp.