Forum - View topicNEWS: The Anime Network Changes
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DeSpawn
Posts: 82 Location: Boston, MA |
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Is this a "Bad" thing that was hinted at a while back about Comcast & The Anime Network?
Its probably my fault for not checking the on-demand for 3 weeks here in the New England area...  .
Also curious, though if anyone in the Massachusetts Area has checked the Comcast on-demand? At work can't check... |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2258 Location: Online Terminal |
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Hmm. I don't think this is anything to be worried about...yet. Well, aside from the hurricane stuff.
Incidentally, TAN isn't the only station that's had to move out; Fox Sports Net has had to preempt their regular programming as their master control is in Houston. |
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awebb79
Posts: 7 |
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Subscription vod perhaps? I'd gladly pay for TAN, but not if they don't get much more consistent on actually doing series all the way through, keeping schedules up to date, not forgetting entire updates on occasion, and communicating more effectively with viewers. Other than that though, I'm in if that's what they are doing.
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saishokushugisha
Editor, Anime Insider
 Posts: 101 Location: USA |
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Unfortunately unexpected, considering that in the last two months they've sold airing rights to all their top-shelf shows (Eva, RahXephon, Cromartie...).
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Angel Of Death
 Posts: 176 Location: Harper Woods, MI |
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I was so disappointed when they sold RahXephon. That was a good show.
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Colonel Wolfe
 Posts: 370 |
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ADV Films and The Anime Network should be ashamed of themselves and I'm glad they're off the air. If I need to watch anime I'll go out and buy the DVD. Why should anime fans have to pay to watch anime besides getting standard cable or satellite?
Not only do you have to pay for anime but they can't even get their crap straight. Serves ADV and TAN right for screwing around with anime fans in the first place not to mention the fact that I saw this coming way back before they broadcasted and discovered that it was VOD where you have to pay extra for it ... My hats off to Comcast for whatever role they played in taking the network off the air ... |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Ugh, I noticed it was gone from my Comcast On Demand listings a couple days ago, and there were episodes of shows still in the listing I wanted to watch!
It's bad enough the Anime Network rarely updated the listings. I keep wondering if they're ever going to expand their linear format around so perhaps I might get it. I keep sending requests, but I'm just one person (that I'm aware of). |
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ChrisBeveridge
Posts: 162 |
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I just checked, it's gone. |
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ChrisBeveridge
Posts: 162 |
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Uh, blame your cable provider first. The bulk of places that offered it did NOT charge for it. Either way, it was up to the cable provider and not TAN to my knowledge as to whether it'd be charged for or not. So yes, they should be ashamed for all that free anime that the bulk of people using it got to see. |
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DarkCntry
 Posts: 61 |
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This is exactly correct, TAN had no control over how their content was provided beyond it being On Demand. Certain cable companies (specifically those in Canada) generally charge for their On Demand content, and that's out of ADV or TAN's control. As for the whole Comcast thing...who knows, Comcast has been pretty hostile when it comes to TAN, after noticing the popularity it had when it arrived on VOD, they went out and gobbled up Selects on Demand and their Anime section, there's just so far you can go with CPM titles though, and there's only so far Now and Then and Grave of the Fireflies can carry weight. It's been rumbling that TAN is going SVOD to cover it's ass over the content, over the recent disputes between watchers, networks, and TAN over the airing of Gantz (both edited and unedited), TAN is re-evaluating their whole outlook. SVOD protects them from the angry soccer moms and makes sure the networks will get off their back about mature content. Seeing as TAN is focusing on VOD instead of the linear (thanks once again to Comcast and Time Warner here), I'd been much happier to keep the free aspect, even if I were forced to watched edited shows. I'm not overly fond of SVOD, which in effect is nothing more than a glorified and renamed Pay-Per-View service, as I'd much rather have the ability to watch it *whenever and however many times* I want to without the worries of extra expenditures like that. I'm giving a lot of credit to TAN, unfortunetly they are feeling the effects of that recent bubble burst of anime popularity and ADV's over-reaching of licenses. All of the TAN employees I've worked with and communicated with have been nothing but helpful and compassionate to the fan's feelings and were bending over backwards to keep a lot of us pleased, especially their volunteer representatives. |
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one3rd
 Posts: 1817 Location: アメリカ |
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I think everyone is really overreacting here and jumping to rather presumptuous conclusions. It's only been announced that change is coming. What kind of change has not been announced. It's better to just wait rather than speculate.
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DarkCntry
Posts: 61 |
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My speculation isn't as overreacting and wild as you think 
I have spoken regularly with TAN employees, as well as a couple ADV employees here and there, and the general idea is that what I said is the sweeping total change they are pointing towards. Not saying it's all going to happen as I said, it's just that with so many people who work for them saying the same thing, it's a pretty good point of reference in where I begin my 'speculation'.
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renmag
Posts: 3 |
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I agree that TAN had no control over being a free VOD vs. SVOD. But, you know what they had control over? Airing excellent anime titles.
I am sorry, but when they started to license their better titles to other nets, you know ADV had to do it in order to survive. Plus, TAN did not diversify their offering of anime titles. Since TAN launched on VOD (I think that was 2003?), they haven't really aired titles from FUNimation or Bandai or Geneon - even on their linear offering. Not to defend the Adult Swim or Anime Selects or Barbed Wire Biscuits of the world, but at least they attempt to air titles from various distributors (take a look at Anime Selects October schedule - they will air Ikki Tousen, Kare Kano and Demon Lord Dante among others). And, TAN could've covered Anime Expo the same way Anime Selects did. But, they didn't. |
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Ken-san
Posts: 32 Location: Michigan |
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My 2 cents:
I agree with the previous poster who mentioned a lack of diversified content on The Anime Network. For the past 2 years ADV's been operating The Anime Network I said to myself "Just watch, ADV will exploit this network the same way they exploit NewType", which is overt self-promotion of their own licensces. When I think of an Anime Network, I think of a multitude of titles crossing all sub-genres and from all companies involved in American Anime Licensing. As of yet, I haven't really seen that here . . . everywhere you look on TAN it's ADV left and right. Couple that with inconsistent updating and overused titles (EVANGELION!!!) and you have a potentially huge problem. Personally I wished that both NewType and TAN were products handled by 3rd Party companies, devoid of the influence of 1 Anime Distributor. Alas this is no perfect world . . . |
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DarkCntry
Posts: 61 |
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TAN did attempt to air more and more non-ADV material but met with other's not falling in line I guess. And believe me when I say a lot of the TAN staff had no control over the outsourcing of TV broadcast rights, and most weren't too thrilled over it.
For example, Chrono Crusade...most thought that it would be a very popular show for VOD and it was. People weren't too happy to see it and several other shows being pulled with only a vague "it was picked up elsewhere" statement. Then comes Gantz...edited like mad and only going to be shown unedited on SVOD services, that ultimately pissed off everyone else. And sadly the TAN staff is the one who got the reprecussions of people who don't know that TAN is a very risky venture. For weeks they recieved harsh and bitter remarks over this because they were doing the only thing they could do to protect their asses. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find ANY channel on VOD that isn't part of a premium channel's package that isn't edited or content controlled. Anime Selects had Darkside Blues on, edited harshly, no one made a stink over it. VOD has a fine line between allowing access to all content or controlling in hopes that there isn't the "angry soccer mom" backlash. The problem is this, TAN itself is not directly ADV, just as much as NewType-USA isn't directly ADV...but they are at the control and whims of it and are directly affected by ADV's current standing. TAN tried to air a lot of other non-ADV products, but it's not easy to negotiate for TV broadcast rights when your parent company is a direct competitor. Robotech, Chobits...a couple of shows made it's way to TAN and did fairly well, so it wasn't completely ADV all the time... |
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