×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: European Commission to Assess Limiting Geoblocking for Streaming Platforms in EU


Goto page Previous  1, 2

 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article
Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Gezzas



Joined: 04 Dec 2019
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:08 pm Reply with quote
Current licensing agreements pack Lithuania (where I live) and other Baltic states together with Russia and other Slavic nations. If Wakamin Russia decides to take it version with Russian sub or dub is the only version I can get. It just sucks.

Streaming licenses covering all EU members states sounds very interesting to me. I don't know if it will bring anime in English to me but I hope that company based in EU will do a better job.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
EiMs



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:39 pm Reply with quote
Gezzas wrote:
Current licensing agreements pack Lithuania (where I live) and other Baltic states together with Russia and other Slavic nations. If Wakamin Russia decides to take it version with Russian sub or dub is the only version I can get. It just sucks.

Streaming licenses covering all EU members states sounds very interesting to me. I don't know if it will bring anime in English to me but I hope that company based in EU will do a better job.


Technically they couldn't block you from watching Wakamin Nordic if this go through.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher


Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10441
Location: Do not message me for support.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:00 pm Reply with quote
I wrote:

This is my first take on the situation. I'll speak to some European licensors and see what they think.


Badej wrote:

That's a bad take then. Sony already owns most major publishers in Europe. Besides, the UK mostly has the best releases of anime in the EU anyway, so why wait for an inferior product. I certainly won't wait for the Dutch publisher that released Weathering With You on blu ray that somehow looked worse than a 480p Crunchyroll stream.


You seem to misunderstand my "take." I wasn't saying this is a bad thing. I was saying "this is a bad thing for these people."

My "take" is my understanding of the situation for these companies. It's not my opinion about whether or not geo-blocking is good, it's my understanding about how the removal of geo-blocking might hurt small publishers. So unless you can provide knowledge of international licensing and the European anime market that is deeper than mine, you can't tell me my understanding was wrong. There are definitely a couple people who can, I'll be talking to them shortly.

As for my position on geo-blocking, I'm entirely for the removal of georestrictions, but I recognize that it has it's downsides. In particular, it might result in fewer dubs in "secondary" languages, which would absolutely suck for dub fans in those markets. It might also result in less revenue for the anime companies back in Japan, and not all of those licensors are massive faceless corporations.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher


Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10441
Location: Do not message me for support.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:09 pm Reply with quote
Tempest wrote:
Geoblocking sucks for consumers.

SHD wrote:
And that's what's important. That's where it should end.

Legal changes that benefit big multinationals rarely benefit consumers in the end.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1752
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:48 pm Reply with quote
Tempest wrote:
Tempest wrote:
Geoblocking sucks for consumers.

SHD wrote:
And that's what's important. That's where it should end.

Legal changes that benefit big multinationals rarely benefit consumers in the end.

And also down with capitalism and all, but is this really all you can reply to all that I wrote? Frankly I fail to see how the current situation could be any worse for consumers, especially those in countries like mine where there's practically no domestic anime/manga publishing companies in business anymore, and even when there were they were struggling with low sales in a small and problematic domestic market.

(As I said, I live in a small (Eastern European) EU country, and due to work and personal relationships I have had a fairly good look at the domestic anime/manga publishing business for the past we 20 years of so, as well as the market and the fandom. I'm not talking out of my ass here.)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
EiMs



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:24 am Reply with quote
SHD wrote:
Legal changes that benefit big multinationals rarely benefit consumers in the end.
And also down with capitalism and all, but is this really all you can reply to all that I wrote? Frankly I fail to see how the current situation could be any worse for consumers, especially those in countries like mine where there's practically no domestic anime/manga publishing companies in business anymore, and even when there were they were struggling with low sales in a small and problematic domestic market.

(As I said, I live in a small (Eastern European) EU country, and due to work and personal relationships I have had a fairly good look at the domestic anime/manga publishing business for the past we 20 years of so, as well as the market and the fandom. I'm not talking out of my ass here.)


I have to agree on this. Here in Lithuania we don't have any domestic anime or manga licensers. And it's became some sort magical wheel where is no anime companies because no ones watching and no ones watching because there aren't any content. So I see some sort potential if we have all manga and anime (in English, German, etc. ) this might push bigger companies to localise their content to harvest this potential. Sure I might be wrong, but as you said this directive won't make situation worse.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Terry Lang



Joined: 10 Jan 2017
Posts: 72
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 5:26 am Reply with quote
I don't know how this will affect me yet but it seems like excellent news.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1102
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:48 am Reply with quote
Tempest wrote:
Tempest wrote:
Geoblocking sucks for consumers.

SHD wrote:
And that's what's important. That's where it should end.

Legal changes that benefit big multinationals rarely benefit consumers in the end.

Another EU citizen here.

I fail to see how stopping geoblocking is "benefiting big multinationals". European producers want to sell their products anywhere and consumers all over the EU want to see them: European productions are broadcast through all the countries (Spanish comedies, Italian detective series, German romance movies...). Through EBU-UER (not an EU agency, though) we even share broadcasting of some events [usually cultural or sport events].
I also fail to see why some people are so obsessed on defending hypothetical companies from Big Movie/Broadcast. Should we forbid buying books from other countries to defend national publishers, then?

My take: we pay a lot of money to Netflix, HBO, Disney, etc. NOT to be told "ohh, tough luck, you can't watch this, nor that". The EU is not saying "you MUST release everything in every language" but "You cannot block people from watching what they pay for" (after all we're more people than in Japan or the US... it's time the companies realise that).

Also we have Japaneses companies geoblocking trailers. Not whole movies or animes: the trailers because... dunno, something something piracy?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group