Forum - View topicNEWS: Manga UK Confirms No DVD for Honey & Clover, 3 Others
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Ranma87
 Posts: 170 |
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TV actually uses the "TV Parental Guidelines" system which is made by the FCC. Funimation and several other companies have a tendency to stamp these ratings on their box sets despite the fact that they are only intended for TV use. Yes we have two different rating systems in the same country and it can be confusing at times. On the left is the MPAA rating, on the right is the rough FCC television equivalent. (They usually convert but not always) G = Y PG = Y7 or TVPG PG13 = TV14 R = TVMA http://www.tvguidelines.org/ Last edited by Ranma87 on Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Following from this, I may pose a modification of my prior question. By submitting a title to be rated by the company or companies providing such a service, how significant are the resulting costs incurred by the party releasing a DVD, relative to other expenses involved in distributing anime in the US? Knowing this would at least allow me to compare the BBFC's impact here with that of its closest analogue in the US. Of course, I appreciate that numerical rates or data might not be available to facilitate this comparison, though a vague overview would suffice. |
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mudduck454
 Posts: 303 |
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I am not talking about the manga, this article talks about the DVDs of ichigo 100%, I never heard of it being licensed, because I liked the series, and would consider buying it even if it was a sub only release, I am saving up to by a multi reigon blu-ray player with a built in multi reigon DVD player, it will also play NTSC and PAL, as long as I use the HDMI plug, so I will be able to buy movies from anywhere in the world, but mainly anime, there are some shows that were dubbed in english available in R3 format, like nodame cantabile. |
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-kf
 Posts: 29 |
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Here is a link to the payment calculator for the BBFC. The payment here is straightforward as it pertains to running time. The funny thing about this is that the longer something is, the more money it costs.This means unless there is a separate standard for TV series, that it would cost quite a bit more to get anime rated than it would a movie, despite the fact most movies are going dwarf anime in terms of sales. If that calculator is mostly accurate that means it would cost ~$1900 GBP(~$2800 US) for a 13 episode anime and ~$3700 GBP($5400 US) for 26 episodes. To almost any movie DVD this would be nothing. When you take into account how little some of these anime DVDs actually sell though, 3-5k along with other production costs could easily get to the point of not being worthwhile to release a DVD. Rating in the US is voluntary, though most major movie studios do pay the MMPA to rate their movies. As Ranma87 said however TV here is rated by the FCC, not the MPAA so unless an anime has a theatrical release(Miyazaki films) is is almost certainly going to have an FCC rating. The FCC doesn't rate things, they provide a rating structure, and the TV producers use this structure to self-rate. The incentive to rate accurately here is that if you don't, the FCC is likely to slap massive fines on you. This rating then carries over to the DVDs, so the level of compliance to rating standards is probably not really an issue. However if an anime never appears on the air, I'm not sure the FCC can fine a company for improper rating, which in a sense probably creates a bit of a gray area for anime which has never aired. Possibly if someone filed a complaint against Funimation there might be an issue if they were using the FCC system. Looking at a few of my DVD box sets though, it looks like a few of the ratings used aren't in exact FCC or MPAA format, which probably means that the anime company just threw a label on that was similiar based on their own judgment. Since they aren't required to follow a specific rating system, I would guess that it just goes unnoticed by most people. As far as what minors are allowed to buy, I think as long as it doesn't contain pornography, there isn't any law. I'm fairly certain that it is left up to the discretion of individual retailers, but I imagine most of them probably have policies that err on the side of caution. So if a 14 year old goes into Best Buy and tries to buy a season of Family Guy, they probably aren't going to sell it to him. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here. The problem in the UK is that you only have one body that rates DVD content, and that rating is mandatory. So unless your government decides that rating isn't mandatory(I don't live in the UK but I'm guessing that isn't going to happen) or that distributors can independently rate, which without some sort of standard wouldn't be the most useful thing in the world, you guys are kind of stuck. The US is surrounded by a different set of circumstances, so it is hard to compare. There are probably few titles that fall under that gray area of not having been aired. Since there hasn't been much negative attention brought to them, it isn't likely to be a problem until some parent flips out that the rating on an un-aired anime was marked as 13 and up when it should have been 17 and up ; and are looking for something to blame after their little Billy went to school and stabbed someone. As far as actual licensing and distribution goes I would have to imagine the process of producing DVDs and shipping them to brick and mortar stores is about the same. The cost may be a bit higher in UK but that's because most everything in the UK costs a bit more than it does in the US. As a final note if you are interested in the MPAA costs here is a link, under the resources tab and you have to download the document to view it. It is calculated in relation to the cost of negatives. I have no idea how much normal movie negatives cost, nor how that would translate to an anime movie. Sevakis would probably know a bit about how rating in the US works and its cost, and if not, maybe he and Zac could get one of their industry guests to talk about it. Then I can quit making an ass of myself. |
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Ranma87
Posts: 170 |
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FCC tv ratings I would assume are on the cheap since even anime companies like funimation and viz often have all their episodes rated. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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They're not on the cheap, they're free. As others have stated, the ratings from the FCC are only guidelines. Companies basically rate themselves. They don't have to submit the titles to anyone for review. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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That makes perfect sense, since the longer it is the more man hours required to rate it. |
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Ranma87
Posts: 170 |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Were it not for these grey areas regarding untelevised content, the FCC's guideline-oriented system appears somewhat enviable. I say this in recognition of dragonrider_cody's claim to such a service being free of charge, unless said user's comment pertained to the MPAA instead. Ultimately it is this sort of eventuality —in which a juvenile's criminal act is considered to be an effect of viewing a certain title— that necessitates the very existence of these bodies. (Unfortunately for us, our board charge by the minute, and such charges double for a dual-audio release.) |
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Ranma87
Posts: 170 |
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Typically even at TVMA most studios will still blur nudity on over the air broadcasts.
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FLCLGainax
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It depends on the channel. What you say may be true for a lot of basic cable channels that are worried about backlash from advertisers (Comedy Central being one). However, most premium subscription channels (like IFC or HBO) often leave nudity intact. |
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-kf
Posts: 29 |
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I thought what I meant by funny would be clear in the context of what I wrote, but I guess I used poor word choice. I didn't mean funny as in doesn't make sense, I meant as in it is contradictory in a sales context. It cost less to have a movie rated which will makes tons of money. It costs more to have an anime series rated which will make much less money. I found this situation to be funny in a bit of an ironic way. Sorry you couldn't figure that out from what I wrote.
I imagine for most video content the price of a rating is a non-issue. I can't imagine that many DVD releases have an issue shelling out a few grand for a rating. Anime is probably one of a very few things where you can have some titles sell so few as to be an issue. Sevakis said in a different thread that a DVD release needs to sell 500 copies, otherwise it isn't even worth production. I could easily see a couple of those random magical girl titles having issues selling that many, though I wouldn't guess Honey and Clover not selling enough units to break even. The cost of the box sets though could prevent people from buying it. They are $90US for 24 episodes at Rightstuf which is easily double what most box sets cost these days. |
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