AnimeCentral

Anime Central was a British television channel owned by CSC Media Group. The channel launched on 13 September 2007. It was first announced on 5 August 2007, though its license first appeared on the Ofcom website in January (initially named "Toon TV", this was changed to Anime Central in June). The channel ran from 9pm to 6am, free-to-air on Sky's Digital TV Platform, channel 199; and it was the only channel broadcast in the UK and Ireland which was dedicated solely to showing anime.

This article is about a British TV Channel. For the anime convention, see Anime Central.
Anime Central
Launched13 September 2007 (13 September 2007)
Closed27 August 2008 (27 August 2008)
Owned byCSC Media Group
Picture format4:3, 576i (SDTV)
CountryUnited Kingdom
Replaced byShowcase TV
Websiteanimecentral.com
Availability
Satellite
SkyChannel 199
Eutelsat 28A11642V 27500 2/3

Anime was only broadcast between 9pm and 6am. The channel originally timeshared with Pop Girl (another CSC Media Group channel) but more bandwidth was made available removing the need for the channel to timeshare. The extra broadcast capacity was then filled with the channel ident or teleshopping. The channel was shut down on 27 August 2008 being replaced with Showcase TV but Anime Central continued to be shown as a programming block on Showcase TV every night between 4am and 6am. Showcase TV was renumbered to channel 188 in September 2008. On August 3, 2009, Showcase TV became True Entertainment and the Anime Central programming block was removed completely.[1]

Programming

The regular schedule comprised six series, with a different episode broadcast every day.[2] These made a three-hour block, which was then repeated twice through to 6:00am. Each series was usually repeated once before a major schedule change was made, unless the series was much longer than the standard length of 26 episodes. On 1 March 2008, the schedule changed, first to three double-bills, then to two triple-bills. The reasons for the change were unknown and reactions to this change on the channel's forum were generally negative.[3]

Initially the channel did not broadcast in anamorphic widescreen. Programmes made in 16:9 format were screened in letterbox format. In 2008, a few late-season episodes of Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig were screened in 16:9 anamorphic.[4]

Anime programmes that aired on AnimeCentral

Christmas marathons

Over the 2007 Christmas season, from 21 December 2007 until 4 January 2008,[5] the regular schedule was replaced by marathons of these 3 popular anime shows:

  • Cowboy Bebop (21 December 2007 – 23 December 2007)
  • Fullmetal Alchemist (24 December 2007 – 29 December 2007)
  • Bleach (30 December 2007 – 4 January 2008)

Nine consecutive episodes of a series were shown each day to form a 4½ hour block, except on the final day of each series' marathon which had fewer episodes. Each block was repeated until 6:00am.

Subtitling

Although all series were initially broadcast in English, a popular topic of discussion on the Anime Central forums were member's preferences for Anime dubbed into English or in Japanese with English subtitles.[6][7] Perhaps as a result of the high demand for both, during late 2007, the last repeat of the night of Cowboy Bebop and .hack//SIGN were broadcast in Japanese with English subtitles.

On-screen identity
On-screen graphics

Throughout the channel's life, it had a consistent red-on-black theme. All the channel's advertising, the "bumpers", the ident cards and the website used this same theme. In response to a request from the channel's brand manager, there was some discussion on the Anime Central Forums about possibly changing the red-on-black theme (amongst other suggestions about programming).[8] However, none of the suggestions were taken up by the channel.

Closure and replacement

On 3 June 2008, an updated list of UK TV licenses from OFCOM no longer listed Anime Central as a licensed channel,[9] reinforcing the long-standing speculation on the Anime Central forums that the channel would soon close.[10][11] However, the same OFCOM data indicated that CSC Media Group is set to start a new cartoon channel called True Entertainment, prompting further speculation on the Anime Central Forums that some of the channel's programming could move to the new channel.[11] By 14 June, confirmation that the channels's license to operate was being replaced in favour of True Entertainment, had appeared on OFCOM's monthly updates page for May 2008.[12] Despite a fleeting suggestion on Sky's Electronic Programme Guide that a new schedule, combining content from Pop Girl, True Movies 2 and Anime Central, might start on 20 August, Sky's EPG quickly reverted to the previous schedule of triple bills and teleshopping.[13] On 26 August 2008, True Entertainment's OFCOM Licence was renamed to Showcase TV and Showcase TV launched the following day. Anime Central survived as a 3-hour block of programming from midnight to 3am, using the channel's original idents, DOG and continuity announcements. At the beginning of the new schedule the block carried the same triple bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex that were previously seen in rotation on the full-time channel, however, after 7 October 2008, Anime Central's slot was further reduced to two hours, showing double bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. On August 3, 2009, the last double bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In The Shell were shown and Showcase TV was replaced by True Entertainment.

In 2014, Sony Pictures Television bought CSC Media Group.[14][15] On March 2, 2015, CSC's Scuzz launched Animax Movie Nights, a weekly block that aired anime movies on Thursday nights for the next month.[16] The website was redirected to animaxtv.co.uk, which was launched on 24 October 2013 prior to Sony's acquisition of CSC.[17] However, it is no longer available due to the service’s closure on 15 October 2018.

Forum activity

Even though the channel no longer existed as a separate channel, discussion on the channel's internet forum continued with a low level of activity. However, the forum stopped accepting new members in September 2008, and coupled with the discovery by forum members that the domain name registration will expire in November 2009, it has fueled speculation that the forum will soon close completely.[18][19][20]

In August 2009, the forums were closed to members and non members, those who tried to access the forums would receive the message "Closed for cleanup and restructuring".

gollark: True, true.
gollark: What, you think they were accidentally closed and he hasn't fixed it?
gollark: Presumably them being *closed* was deliberate; easier than actually fixing it.
gollark: A glitch which apparently stopped the thuwed lists from working.
gollark: You'd expect him to have, say, fixed it.

References
  1. "True Entertainment". Archived from the original on 15 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  2. Anime Central - Series Archived October 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Anime Central - Forums - Schedule from late Feb Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Anime Central - Forums - Widescreen? Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Anime Central - News - Ho, Ho, Ho... Anime Central Announce Their Festive Schedule! Archived December 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Anime Central - Forums - Will Anime Central show anime in subtitles? Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Anime Central - Forums - should the animes [sic] on channel 199 be in japanese with subs? Archived November 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Anime Central - Forums - Anime Central Website Needs An Oil Change Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2008-06-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) OFCOM UK TV Licenses
  10. Anime Central - Forums - The 'what's going with the channel/line-up' thread Archived June 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Anime Central - Forums - Bye Bye Anime Central Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "OFCOM - Television Broadcast Licensing Update May 2008". www.ofcom.org.uk. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  13. Sky Interactive TV guide (unfortunately, it is not possible to link directly to individual channel listings or to past channel listings)
  14. Knight, Sophie (2014-06-26). "Sony to buy Britain's CSC media group in TV network push | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
  15. Clarke, Stewart (2014-08-15). "Sony closes CSC deal, ups Kate Marsh / TBI Vision TBI Vision". Tbivision.com. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
  16. "Scuzz TV launch Animax Movie Nights". UK Anime Network. March 2, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  17. "UK Anime Network - NEWS". www.uk-anime.net.
  18. Anime Central - Forums registration page Archived March 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine showing "Sorry, but we're not accepting new registrations just at the moment"
  19. Anime Central - Forums - whats on your mind... contains discussion on closure of the forums to new members and the reasons for it.
  20. Anime Central - Forums - Does this site expire on the 28th?
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