Anime Central Panel - UK TV station details

Date: 2007 August 13 11:37

Posted by Joe

One of the biggest bits of news to come from AmeCon 2007 this weekend is the launch of the new UK anime station Anime Central.

We were at the panel, so aren't relying on third party information. We also pitched a lot of questions to them to find out what you really want to know. ^_-

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It's official launch date will be 10th September, on Sky Digital. So you will need a Sky set up to watch it. It will be a free channel available to all Sky users regardless of their package. As of yet they do not have a channel number, but will have one nearer the launch date. They are planning to roll out to cable providers in the future.

They will be broadcasting from 9pm until 6am. Anime Central will be running titles primarily dubbed, with subtitled blocks every so often. Basically they will broadcast the shows in 3 hour blocks looped throughout their broadcast time.

They do plan to show adverts, but since it's a new channel concept they're unsure who would be willing to sponsor an anime channel. They plan to show adverts in-between each show and in the middle of each show. Since most anime titles have an eye catch for adbreaks, it shouldn't interfere too much anyway.

It's primarily aimed at the 16 to 34 year old demographic.

They don't see their name as conflicting with the anime convention, Anime Central (which has been running for 10 years in the midwest of the US) with the same name, as they see the name as divergent, and not trademarked.

As of yet the promotion of the channel needs to be confirmed, so they are unsure how big the launch advertising campaign will be. Anime Central is run by CSC Media Group, who run 12 other channels already, including stations like Scuzz. They do intend to use existing channels run by CSC to promote Anime Central.

They plan to show longer series with at least 24 episodes, and at the moment will not show series with only 13 episodes or less.

The main titles they have are Beez titles including Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Seed, Wolf's Rain, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (Both the first series and Second Gig), Scryed and Planetes. They will also be showing Full Metal Alchemist and Bleech (currently the first 52 episodes). We asked them if they had the rights to other Viz titles, but they went coy, and said "we can't say" as of yet.

They also have the rights to Transformers Takara, which includes Transformers Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory.

What they were keen to express was the fact they were keen to experiment, movies are on the cards, and perhaps other content from Japan too.

There official website is AnimeCentral.com, currently it just has a place holder page.