Thought this would be interesting to post!
http://theanimeblog.com/2007/08/29/holy-crap-geneon-and-adv-are-merging/

This just in: Geneon and ADV are in the middle of a merger, or as they’re calling it: a strategic alliance. Here’s the Official Press Release:
ADV FILMS AND GENEON ANNOUNCE
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Partnership Yields Strongest Catalog in Anime Category

HOUSTON, August 29, 2007 - Today ADV Films and Geneon Entertainment (USA) announced a new distribution agreement. From October 1st on, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USA’s sole distributor. ADV Films will handle all sales and distribution duties for the combined catalogue as well as certain marketing functions.

Geneon Entertainment (USA) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu, Inc. Geneon is a pioneer of anime in America, having helped to launch Pokemon, Appleseed, and Akira on home video. More recent hits include some of the best-selling franchises in anime today, including Hellsing, Ergo Proxy, and the new hit series Black Lagoon.

“This is a great alliance.” said Geneon President and CEO Eiji Orii. “The efficiencies we’ll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy.”
Geneon merging with ADV
ADV and Geneon

ADV co-founder and President John Ledford concurred. “This alliance makes both companies stronger. Anime as an entertainment category is in competition with every other form of entertainment, and our partnership with Geneon gives us the scale to help widen the anime market in North America.”

Ledford continued, “As we look ahead to an increasingly digital future, scale matters. In bringing anime to new media platforms, ADV Films and Geneon can only benefit from the added clout this alliance brings.”

For consumers and retailers, this transition should be seamless. Geneon’s publishing plans will continue unabated, as ADV Films works with distribution partners to make the transition a smooth one.

Guess thats good and all but is the price of anime going to rise be couse of the merger between the 2 companies?

In a merging, both companies are looking foward to be able to increase their production, distribution and difussion of their products, also trying to offer their products at a lower price to become even more competitive.

So, a rise in prices for the titles of both companies would be something totally unpractical and kind of ridiculous. If such thing happens, that merging would be completely pointless.

And yay at this merging. It's easier to find ADV titles in Mexico than Geneon's. I wonder if the titles Geneon have been distributing for some time will be re-released again, with the ADV logo, or not.

I heard that Geneon will still license and produce anime but will now be using ADV's marketing tools to distribute the anime. This also opens open all of Geneon's old titles available for ADV to re-release. Prices aren't going to rise because now there's less competition in the market.

Yeah, if you actually read the article, this isn't a merger. Geneon is simply contracting ADV to distribute their anime. It's pretty much the same as what Viz did when they contracted then Pioneer to do the same thing for them around six years ago. Geneon's not going away, and for that I'm thankful. I'm all right with ADV, but Geneon's quality has always been head and shoulders over them, and I'd hate to see ADV water them down.

Interesting....Even though I'm not a huge fan of dubbed anime I do have to say out of all the companies Geneon is probably the best out there. I'm pretty sure the rumors present by nychi002 will hold true.

I may have to express myself in saying that this could either be a good thing or a bad thing, but who knows? I've been much more of a fan of ADV Films' work for a while now(UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, Maburaho, Kaleido Star, Puni Puni Poemy, etc.). But then again, I've also watched Geneon's work too(Ai Yori Aoshi, Ikki Tousen, Sailor Moon, etc.). If ADV Films and Geneon are going to align themselves together, it might be good, the only problem is having dubbed versions of all anime now. If you ask me, ADV Films and Bandai Entertainment would probably be a more better pairing. What do you think?

Nooo. they can't merge. ADV sucks on voice casting. I say this is bad.

Xday11

Nooo. they can't merge. ADV sucks on voice casting. I say this is bad.

Oh, for crying out loud. All that they are doing is that Geneon is now using better (ADV's) marketing tools to distribute their anime. If you actually read a full copy of the press release you'd see that its not a true merger. The title for this thread is inaccurate and should be changed. People are going to get the wrong idea.

In my experience, Geneon has consistently met a high level of quality in its anime releases, as many other thread participants have noted. At the same time, however, I've always liked the lower prices associated with ADV's thinpak boxed sets, and thus if this "merger" means that Geneon titles will also be released in thinpak (read: at lower cost), then to me this is most certainly a good thing.

If Genon does the dubbing and ADV does the marketing... maybe it is a good combo... (since ADV's dubbing is less popular).

Glad I caught this piece of news... certainly new info for me.

I learned recently that not even workers within the industry know the whole truth about what is going until the official and final press release making nothing is for certain until October 1.

One very scary (and hopefully unfounded) thought is that what if Geneon can no longer support itself and is forced to sell to ADV? That would mean that this supposid alliance makes Geneon little more then a licensing tool from which ADV will be the one to adapt the anime for western audiences.

I pray that this is untrue but it is something to think about. What is going to happen the the future of anime if producers can no longer support themselves and stay afloat? Again just something to think about.

Geneon has "co-oped" with other anime companies before.. it isnt really a merge though.
Geneon will do its thing, but the marketing part may be done by ADV, since ADV is better at that part.

...an actual MERGE... that would be more interesting/surprising.

And. . . . the deal is now off.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-20/adv-films-geneon-entertainment-distribution-deal-cancelled

Which means that not only is ADV not handling distribution for Geneon, but Geneon is now even worse off, given that it is currently without any means of marketing or distribution (it having fired the staff in preparation for the "merger"). All in all, this cannot be a good thing. I hope that the two companies are able to work out whatever (unannounced) issues they had preventing the deal from going through, or that Geneon is able to find another company to handle distro for it.

I'm insanely worried about the future of the market with things in such a chaotic state right now. Either way it sounds like Geneon, a major distributor, is going to fold over and collapse. If that happens, what about the other distributors?