Hello, Got a question. Are shows restricted based on language or Region? I understand that all shows are not shown in all regions. If the show is available in certain region (unless told that they cannot translate into any other language besides ENGLISH), shouldn’t subbers who can see it be able to sub in their language?
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From Viki’s description in this link, the issue is, Viki does not have permission in some cases.
From my understanding, restriction is based on the decision from the content provider/owner.
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That is what I thought. Unless VIKI says that only English subs are allowed, there is no Language restriction though there can be Region Restriction due to license.
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You’re right.
Whenever I add information to ‘fan’ (unlicensed) channel I always try to remember to include Viki’s Title Request Form for fans in different regions to inform Viki of their interest.
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Yes, it is possible. It is by region, not by language. For instance, there’s a show I was made moderator of, which turned out to be restricted for Italy, so all my Italian subbers and I couldn’t work on it. But there is another Italian who lives in the USA who has now taken the moderator job and is now translating it, together with a couple other US-based Italian volunteers.
The question is: who is it for?
Think for a minute.
Italians who live in Italy cannot watch the show anyway. So we already eliminate the greatest percentage of potential viewers.
Italians who are in the US are most probably very comfortable with English and they understand it well, so they don’t need Italian. (Maybe their old Italian grandma who hasn’t learned English well, despite being there for 40 years?)
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I understand that people might be more comfortable with English and not need other language. I just wanted to know the difference. It is definitely possible to have both Language and Regional Restriction at same time.
Language Restriction – Only ENGLISH subs allowed
Regional Restriction – Only viewable in certain regions
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We do have both nowadays. Lately, some movies could only be translated into a handful of languages (some of which were already presubbed) and all other languages were blocked.
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That is too bad … Thanks for this information!
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The purpose of a business is to make a profit.
It seems to me that for K-dramas, the Kocowa ones which are restricted for English only on viki is a consequence of the structure of Kocowa. Kocowa is a consortium among the largest broadcasters in Korea - SBS, KBS and MBC and viki which offers content in Americas directed to English, Spanish, and Portuguese viewers. Viki is definitely a minority voice in the consortium. The broadcasters determine where their dramas will be licensed and I have always assumed that when viki is given a license for English only on a Kocowa drama, it is because the broadcaster intends to sell licenses for other regions of the world or other languages for more money than viki was willing to offer.
Similarly for certain languages on non-Kocowa media, I assume the distributors may have entered into arrangements with other streaming services before they received an offer from viki or viki didn’t offer enough money for more than an English language license.
When community support offers an explanation to a viewer about why X language is not allowed which starts with “I’m sorry but …” please remember that community support at viki has no voice in the decision by the viki content licensing team to pursue a license for a drama or movies or how much money the viki content licensing team is authorized to spend on certain content.
When we are told the “license allows xxx” as though viki was voiceless, consider that somewhere along the line, it was a viki decision to spend $X on a particular title.
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Ah, you mean when they specifically say so. Then yes, but that’s another thing, it’s not that the restricted region “means” a language as well (that’s what I understood the original question to be. If you’re in France, automatically French is not allowed even if the French person lives abroad)