Manga entertainment sold off to Starz! parent company, Liberty Media

[Beat]

From Anime News Network... (http://forums.toonzone.net/www.animenewsnetwork.com)


IDT Corp, the parent company of IDT Entertainment, has agreed (http://www.idt.net/about/press/story.aspx?id=15601) to sell IDT Entertainment to Liberty Media, the parent company of the Starz Entertainment Group (Starz Encore, etc...). The sale is for $186 million in cash, and the transfer of all IDT stock currently held by Liberty Media. Liberty Media will also assume IDT Entertainment's existing debt. IDT Entertainment includes several subsidiaries such as Manga Entertainment, Anchor Bay and Film Roman.

I suppose this makes all of the manga properties Starz exclusives.

[Jeff Harris]

I suppose this makes all of the manga properties Starz exclusives.Not necessarily. Ghost in the Shell: SAC is still an Adult Swim property. Then again, much of Manga's titles were already seen on the Starz/Encore networks, most notably on Encore Action and Encore WAM. I'm kind of hoping that Action is where the new Spawn series will be headed when it's done.

[Djm912]

I honestly thought they already owned the property after all these years.

[Duke]

Not necessarily. Ghost in the Shell: SAC is still an Adult Swim property. Then again, much of Manga's titles were already seen on the Starz/Encore networks, most notably on Encore Action and Encore WAM. I'm kind of hoping that Action is where the new Spawn series will be headed when it's done.
Well, that's also owned by Bandai. Likely all the soley-Manga-owned stuff is Encore-only now.

[FireStarterLE]

so i may be able to use the words "Atlanta Braves", "Starz" and "Manga Ent." in the same sentence someday?

[Weatherman]

Hunh, I guess it makes sense. It made no sense for IDT to be involved in the entertainment business.

[MeggieMay]

Not necessarily. Ghost in the Shell: SAC is still an Adult Swim property. Then again, much of Manga's titles were already seen on the Starz/Encore networks, most notably on Encore Action and Encore WAM. I'm kind of hoping that Action is where the new Spawn series will be headed when it's done.
I also wouldn't think Liberty Media would want to pull Ghost in the Shell: SAC off AS. I would think the fact its on a network that is usually cable basic or a lower extended package vs Starz! and Encore Pak (Starz! are a premium channels while the EncoreTV networks tend to be on digital tiers) should be a plus, not a minus for them. It means GitS: SAC gets a lot more viewers by default and I would think helps the DVD sales and the overall bottom line for Manga.

Where this may pop up as a issue in the future is with newer anime coming over, like Noein, but it may not be a issue either (I'm actually curious how this will effect Anchor Bay, though they may not have anything to do with anime to begin with (I just know I've heard of the company and that it had a good reputation among DVD collectors)) :shrug:.

[Funkatron]

Doesn't that mean they own Mainframe, too?