Forum - View topicLicensing
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Bluemoonxox
Posts: 2 |
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I was wondering, if a certain anime is licensed, does it mean that it will be aired on tv? -- I mean, the ones that are not.. hentai and etc.
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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No, it just means said company has the right to release DVDs or do anything else with the anime that was part of the contract. Could include being aired on TV, but not always. |
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Bluemoonxox
Posts: 2 |
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If they are going to air it or not depends on the popularity in Japan right?
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one3rd
 Posts: 1820 Location: アメリカ |
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Yes and no. Popular shows with broad appeal like Naruto or Bleach certainly may have better chances of being aired on TV in the United States, but there are still no guarantees. There really isn't any single factor that determines what's aired on U.S. TV and what isn't. The vast majority of anime, even that which is licensed in the U.S., will never be aired on TV in the U.S. Not to mention that American companies really aren't making any money from having the shows aired on TV. The driving force behind the American anime market has always been and will always be video sales. Having the shows aired on TV is more or less a promotional tool to sell more DVDs.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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While I agree every point PantsGoblin and one3rd made, I'd like to provide just an opposite type of example: aired on TV but not licensed with home video (DVD) distribution. While this might never happen in US (at least in a foreseeable future), this phenomenon is quite common in countries having dedicated anime channels (e.g. Animax [insert country or region name here]). Broadcasting right and home video right are separate, and channels can acquire them directly through the Japanese license holder(s) or, in the case of Animax, the mother company. Thus it is not uncommon in those countries with titles rerun on Animax for several times way before home video licensors acquire them.
In Taiwan, those "aired but not sold" include some of the best anime titles available: Kino no Tabi, Witch Hunter Robin (neither has R3TW DVD), Haibane Renmei (rumored to have been licensed by a small company but not confirmed), and Kamichu! (recently licensed by Proware). I had to buy R1US DVD of the first three, and fortunately Kamichu! was licensed just when I was painfully hesitating whether to buy R1US or not. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10539 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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PantsGoblin, Dormcat and one3rd all brought up some good points.
Most anime that is licensed in North America is licensed for home-video purposes, and may also be licensed for tv broadcast. Whether or not a show gets on TV depends on a lot of things, and Japanese popularity really isn't one of them. First off, a North American licensee must have broadcast rights for the show. Often times the company with DVD rights doesn't have TV rights. Sometimes TV rights are never sold to a North American licensor, other times they remain in the hands of a "Master Licensor" who is not a DVD publisher (ie: Enoki Films). Anyways, assuming that all the rights fall together, the rights holders will make TV networks aware that the show is available for broadcast. Sometimes licensors will wait for a TV deal before they even think of a DVD release. Viz does this with many of its titles, and Tokyopop delayed any DVD release of Initial D for a long time while they tried to get a TV deal. Other times, Japanese licensors refuse to give up the rights to a show unless a potential licensee can guarantee a TV broadcast. I know of a few examples of this happening, but I don't think any of these are public knowledge, so alas I can not offer any examples. Finally, some companies license shows without any DVD or TV plans. These "Master Licensors" then attempt to sell the shows to DVD publishers and TV networks. Enoki Films is the best example of a company like this, and before it merged with Viz, ShoPro USA did this (but ShoPro USA acted exclusively as an agent for it's parent company, while I believe Enoki is entirely independent). Broadcasters will look at a number of factors before deciding whether or not they want to air an anime. As I said, Japanese popularity is not on the list. They look at the price, how much does the licensor want for the show (or in some cases, how much is the licensor willing to pay to have the show on TV), they try to forecast ratings to determine how popular the show will be with their target demographics, they look at audience appropriateness and required editing, can they show it unedited? If they need to edit it, will it still be popular once it is edited? They take all this and then try to come to a dollar figure, will they make a profit off of broadcasting the show, and will they make more of a profit with this show, or another? If the outlook is good, they negotiate with the licensor. Again, I'm going to repeat that popularity in Japan has little to nothing to do with it. This because popularity in Japan does not necessarily equate to popularity (with mainstream audiences) in America. While hardcore American anime fans like us tend to soak up everything that is popular in Japan, TV networks need properties that will appeal to a wider audience. Cowboy Bebop is a good example of a show that performed okay in Japan, but was extremely popular in the USA. I hate to disappoint, but the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is probably a good example of a show that was hugely popular in Japan, and will do well with American hardcore fans, but would fail miserably on US tv. Broadcast only licenses, which Dormcat mentioned already, aren't very common in the North American anime market right now. These would occur when a broadcaster would negotiate rights for a show directly with the Japanese rights owners. As I said, this is rare right now simply because no broadcaster would want to foot 100% of the localization costs without at least being able to license the localization to a DVD publisher. But what we do occasionally have are consortium licenses. Where a TV Broadcaster and a DVD publisher both work with the Japanese licensor and each obtain the rights for their activity directly from Japan (or one obtains both rights, but immediately sublicenses the second right to their "partner"). They then work together on production and possibly split localization costs. Sometimes the master licensor, or even the ultimate property owner, ends up being the TV network. Good examples of these types of TV centric consortium deals are Big O II and Afro Samurai. Hope this helps. -t |
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