The big changes coming in the industry. How will the tech develop? How will we consume the product? What is going on at the corporate and level of the big networks? What star deals and contracts are up for renewal? 2013 has been a crazy year for television. Matt Smith stepped down as Doctor to make way for Peter Capaldi, an American broadcast network aired a show about a cannibal named Hannibal, 4K TVs started showing up an insane prices, and there was a lot of executive reshuffling at US cable networks. And to be honest, that is barely scratching the surface of TV related news and changes from last year. But now it's 2014, so we have to look forward to a new set of changes. When it comes to an industry with tons of moving parts in many countries, coming up with a huge set of changes right at the beginning of the year seems foolish. But with TV technology on the verge of another quantum leap (although not for the reason you think) and recently released information, there's just enough facts available to talk about a few upcoming changes to the TV landscape. So here are 12 changes to the TV industry in 2014.
12. Anime World Premiering on US Basic Cable
Handling international TV can be difficult. Ideally, a network wants to get the show out there within a few days (preferably two or less) of the original broadcast to avoid fans using illegal means to see the shows. That's difficult, considering time zones, contract stipulations, and the schedules of all the networks involved. So when a show from another continent that's not in the same time zone manages to come out the same day it does in its homeland, that's cause for celebration. If it comes out the day before, it's a massive coup. So when Turner Broadcasting System's Adult Swim network got the rights to broadcast an anime before it aired in Japan, that was historic. Setting aside the show's pedigree and quality (if you want that, read my review of the premiere), Space Dandy airing on a basic cable/satellite channel represents a massive disruption to the usual pipeline for getting anime out of Japan. And that's good, because if you've read anything about Japanese business practices, you know that many of their companies don't place a great emphasis on logic or efficiency. If you don't, let me give you a simplified breakdown of how anime gets to our stores and channels. A Japanese company makes an anime and international distributors bid for the streaming, broadcast, and physical media rights. The show airs in Japan and streams overseas if there's a license. Blu-rays and DVDs with two to four episodes are released in Japan at prices roughly around the $60/36 pound mark. The international distributors decide whether they want to fund a physical release and/or English/non-Japanese dub. The distributors have to wait one year from the final Japanese physical media release to release their DVD and/or Blu-Ray box sets. Some shows cannot be released on Blu-Ray out of fear that savvy Japanese people will import US box sets to save money. Distributors try to work out deals with networks to air shows around the time of the physical release to build interest. Space Dandy's debut in America is as important as every single Japanese game PC port. If it does well, it's an incentive for them to continue making decisions we (as in most countries that are not Japan) consider competent and rational. If it does badly, it gives the studio executives an excuse to not bother changing their business practices and to maintain their ignorance of international markets. We've got another 12 to 25 episodes to go, so who knows what will happen.
Living in Florida, enjoying the weather when its good, writing for a living. TV, Film, Animation, and Games are my life blood. Follow me on Twitter @xbsaint. Just try not to get too mad when I live tweet during Toonami.
