Forum - View topicFunico - What Does it Mean?
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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There is of course the possibility that both companies continue to exist because the market can actually sustain more than one company streaming video.
Which I think is probably more likely than not. |
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bwcbwc
Posts: 59 |
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I don't see how you can say that "more titles will be available" to fans while at the same time saying "Studios would have no reason to license to CrunchyRoll". If Crunchyroll goes under, either there will be less streaming video available or DVD prices will go up to cover the additional licenses Niconico is buying.
Plus I'm not so sure this is fatal for Crunchyroll. Right now this partnership is US-only. Crunchyroll already has a presence in other countries. Admittedly it's not as strong as their US presence, but they already have the technology to enable shows in the US while excluding other regions, so they could flip their strategy and block US viewers while purchasing broader licenses for the rest of the world. And there's always the chance for them to sign a similar partnership in Europe and other regions. In the US, CR would probably have to join with multiple DVD licensors to stay competitive. The other factor is about how the studios will build their licenses to Funico. Even now there are streaming shows that are on multiple sites at the same time: If Hulu, ANN and CR can have simultaneous licenses now, there's always a chance that producers in Japan would sign non-exclusive streaming+exclusive DVD deals with Funico, and continue doing streaming with other sites. Funico would have to increase their bids by at least as much as CR can afford for a non-exclusive license in order to get an exclusive. Finally, there's the fact that TV Tokyo is an investor in CR. So they will have to evaluate the impact to their investment of the Funico venture. If they are getting enough of a profit on the CR deal, they could force non-exclusive licenses on Funico as a way of protecting their investment in CR. |
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bwcbwc
Posts: 59 |
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Agreed about the Blood-C experience on Nico. Not pleasant at all. Heck even Funimation's player was easier to deal with. Now if Hulu were to buy Niconico, maybe this would all work out. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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Hulu is dead. Right now, everyone's just watching it go through its death throes. When one of the most profitable companies states it'll buy the site for the $2 billion asking price, with the one condition it actually run the site as it was intended, is turned away because the seller can't make this guarantee, all bets are off it lives. That company being Google. If Google can't monetize the internet, no one can. I seriously doubt this news was missed by potential investors. The worst part about all this: the site was owned by NBC Universal. It's as though these companies cut their own noses off to spite their face, then wonder why everyone calls them stupid and ugly. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Fox seems like the Usual Suspect for having a different attitude to ad supported free streaming versus subscription streaming than the other two. Fox's fight for a subscription model for Hulu made the business press at several points a year and two ago.
I think the logic is clear, so unless there is a flaw somewhere in the empirical premises, monopoly here we come! |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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You are correct Hulu's a joint venture, but NBC Universal owns the majority stake.
Which is why Hulu is dead. It doesn't help when such turmoil on how to distribute the content they own is more internal than it is external. Fox was also in the news recently by putting its content behind a paywall of cable subscribers, which is just another example of my "cutting off the nose" statement above. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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There's no fear of CR going under. They'll just go back to their roots of being a fansub bit torrent again.
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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And they have too big a user base to switch to being a leech streaming site. Leech streaming sites are a bit like mold: they grow better in dank shady corners than in the bright light of day. Crunchyroll's visibility and bandwidth demands would make them just far to visible if they tried to leech their video streaming from free video streaming sites. In any event, it won't come to that, as the Funico deal will make "everyone who isn't FUNimation or n^2" more favorably inclined to cooperate and collaborate with Crunchyroll, so there's an upside as well as a competitive challenge, and Crunchyroll goes into the challenge with a larger subscriber base and broader device support than Funico. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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Last time I asked about that (in regards particularly to FUNi's noitaminA shows and any Sentai simulcasts as these were always US-only) they said it was not viable. "Sadly, with the scale of the North American market, it's difficult for us to make the numbers work without North America." - Rob Pereyda (former VP of licensing) http://twitter.com/rpereyda/status/26432556595 |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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However, we know that Crunchyroll has see the cost of a shared second week seasonal stream into North America as in the ballpark of working out, since they have agreed to those deals. One presumes that part of the way the deal works out is that the first week simulcast streaming partner covers most of the subtitling overheads. The contracting costs dilemma is that if the R1 DVD distributor is receiving an R1 license is that the R1 rights have to be sublicensed from the R1 licensee, and then if Crunchyroll wished to go for additional regional rights, it would have to negotiate a second rights contract for the extra regional rights. So one business strategy in leveraging Crunchyroll's ex-R1 membership to get expanded regional rights in one of those deals, is to be able to structure a contract that can be struck directly with the original rights owner that is constructed in parallel with and compatible with the contract with the R1 distributor, so there are two contracts, rather than three, and though the value of the stream is less than if Crunchyroll has a first week exclusive, there still is value from the North American market and by the same token the costs of the stream are reduced by not carrying a majority of the subtitling costs. A solution of two compatible contracts would seem to require an up-front standing deal with the R1 distributor involved, as the only way to avoid the whole thing turning into a hairy three way negotiation. |
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Reliak
Posts: 50 |
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This just in (or, in a few hours ago, whatev)
http://blog.niconico.com/information/2011/10/delay-on-3-anime-titles.html Is it over before it really began? I'm sure they'll get the shows up eventually, but a delay so soon after announcing the deal is concerning. |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1872 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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I expect this would have happened even without the joint venture with Funimation, since frankly, it seems that came at the "last minute". I had though it odd that all 3 series were set to premiere on the same day, and theorized that was the date they would emerge from beta. If that theory is correct, it could simply be they do not feel the site is ready to drop the beta tag, and they are holding off on posting the shows while trying to determine how to proceed. It should be noted that they have yet to post the second episode of Guilty Crown either, despite Funimation having it on their site for close to 6 hours now. (EDIT: The episode was posted early the next day). |
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potatochobit
 Posts: 1373 Location: TEXAS |
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it is so sad how so many people who watch anime have no idea where their anime comes from. Right here is the juggernaut of all anime worth watching. basically, SAT morning cartoons in japan, these guys invented it. They are the asian warner bros.
just like there will not be another season of the simpsons, oh wait, that was 6 years ago. Don't buy into the hype until it actually happens. Hulu is doing very, very well. It is cable television that is the concern. Something may be done, but I wouldn't count your chickens until it has actually happened. one huge misunderstanding that I think alot of people have in this thread is that funimation DVD sales are going to increase. I seriously doubt this will revolutionize funimation's 'business sales model'. People who collect DVDs already collect them. And people who are cheap or dont want to own a physical copy will continue to only be interested in streaming, regardless of the internet website owner. |
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Deacon Blues
Posts: 391 Location: Albuquerque, NM |
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Okay... first of all...
Since when did ANN turn into a corporation/organization/etc? Where's your board of directors? A bit of a stretch for what's still considered a fan site... 
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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ANN has been a corporation for years. Christopher Macdonald is the Publisher and CEO. We have a stable of full-time and part-time employees and freelancers. Nobody works here for free or just "for exposure". This isn't "considered a fan site" by anyone in the industry and hasn't been for a long time. Laugh it up, I guess, but your perception is wrong. |
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