Singapore gets same-week anime broadcasts from Japan
Singaporean broadcast group MediaCorp has signed a landmark deal with hated anime distributor Odex to bring a range of Japanese titles to its Arts Central channel and to the new online service AnimeTrix, available through its VOD portal MOBTV.sg. To start with they will offer three series on their broadcast channels and six series on AnimeTrix, including D.Gray man and Neo Angelique Abyss
Arts Central says it is the first terrestrial station in the world to broadcast anime content within the same week as it premieres in Japan. “This is a major step towards viewing anime legally in Singapore,” said Odex managing director Peter Go. This comment is especially important since Odex has been one of the most aggressive companies in the world when it comes to pursuing filesharers and fansubbers. As I wrote in an old article on Odex here, they were very active in convincing the Singapore courts to get ISPs to give copyright holders the identities of known filesharers. Odex seems to have figured out part of what I’ve been saying for years now: if you want to get rid of the filesharers, make them obsolete. Near-simultaneous broadcast and online streaming go a long way towards making that happen. In the end, what anime fans want is to get the same viewing options that viewers in Japan get. That means giving fans the chance to watch shows for free through broadcast with ads, or for cheap via premium streaming services (the AnimeTrix service is $7.35 USD a month). As I wrote in The Fansubbing Dilemma at IGN, Anime companies have made the mistake of assuming that U.S. audiences will patiently wait for months or years to see series that are hot in Japan. The crux of the problem is that fans want the latest thing from Japan, right now! Somebody in Singapore understands that.
Fans in North America right now are probably wondering “why not us?” And that’s a good question. This is the kind of thing that American fans have been begging for. Hopefully someone over here is watching and taking notes.
Anime News Network has all the news in detail.
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“why not us?”
Probably there are some reasons…Subtitling in english take its time, licensing and selling rights are expensive and America is too far from Japan.
I wonder also if the tv shows that will broadcast in Singapore are subtitled?…no word of it in your report…
Comment made on July 23, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
As far as i know, these ODEX licenses are subtitled by Odex themselves, and they have a bad reputation for subtitling as they often don’t translate directly from Japanese and go from a Cantonese translation.
Comment made on July 23, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
You’d think even Mediacorp would ask for it’s financial records before accepting them hook, line and sinker.
But this proves once and for all that no one in Singapore will stand up to them. And that the government is inherently evil and insensitive and NOT a bastion of transparency and incorruptibility as it claims.
Gee, thanks a lot.
Comment made on July 23, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
…Yeah, and as for someone understanding, I don’t think they understand at all.
Remember that this is the company that went for the blackmail route first.
Comment made on July 23, 2008 @ 2:34 pm