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Bandai Namco Links Up with Fujiyama Subtitling Firm
posted on by Egan Loo
Fujiyama, a Japanese firm that specializes in subtitles and other means of offering translations in multiple languages for videos and other content, has announced on Tuesday that the Japanese entertainment conglomerate Bandai Namco Holdings agreed to a capital tie-up. Fujiyama's systems will be used in overseas anime distribution via Bandai Namco's Bandai Channel. Fujiyama allocated a part of its shares to Bandai Namco, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and other third-party investors. Bandai Namco invested 95 million yen (about US$890,000) for an 11.8% stake of Fujiyama.
Fujiyama will provide the Secondary Synchronous Distribution System (2SDS) technology for multilingual subtitles to Bandai Channel's overseas video-on-demand service. The aim is to develop an worldwide distribution infrastructure for Japanese anime, with a central system that can manage subtitled distribution to computers, mobile phones, and Internet-based television. According to the companies, this infrastructure will be able to streamline and centrally manage the process of multi-lingual subtitling not for only electronic distribution, but also for packaged distribution such as Blu-ray Disc and DVD.
In April, Bandai Visual revealed its plans to distribute popular anime on the Blu-ray Disc format throughout the world simultaneously this fall. It also confirmed that Bandai Channel plans to sell downloads of its contents. These public announcements came one month before Bandai Namco announced it would fold one of its American anime distribution subsidiaries, Bandai Visual USA, into its other American anime subsidiary, Bandai Entertainment.
Source: AV Watch
