2002 PART ONE - The Origin of Animax
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE MOSKO - September 14, 2022, the 20th Anniversary of Animax
Steve Mosko: Back in 2001, I was heading Columbia Tristar Television, which was a subsidiary of Sony. (chuckles) Still is, actually, just under a different name.
Interviewer: How did the idea for Animax come about?
Steve Mosko: The idea for Animax actually originated in Japan, as an anime TV channel owned by Sony and several anime producers. It had been quite successful there, and we saw potential in expanding it internationally. So we used the brand for our own series of "do-it-yourself" kids blocks, which basically meant you could pick two or more shows from Columbia Tristar's lineup at the time- you know, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, Men in Black, Jackie Chan... I think we had Transformers at the time? But, you know, the one with the CGI animals? That one. But only overseas. Anyway, pick at least two of them, and you get a big shiny Animax graphics package to tie them together. And that did very well internationally, but we wanted to launch Animax in the biggest market yet... the United States. We tried the DIY block approach first, through syndication, but none of the stations we pitched it to wanted it. "Nobody watches syndicated toons anymore," they all said. "The big toon money's in cable." And they were right.
Interviewer: What was the process like for launching the channel in the United States?
Steve Mosko: It was a challenging process, as we were competing with other major movie studios that already owned their own channels that either focused on or aired a lot of animation... mainly for kids. You had Paramount with Nickelodeon and then Nicktoons, Warner with Cartoon Network and Boomerang, at the time you had Fox with Fox Family, and Disney with... well, Toon Disney. Now Disney X-D or Disney LOL or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. And at some point the main Disney Channel aired cartoons. Why don't they air cartoons much anymore? Disney was a famous animator, for god's sake! (chuckles) So anyway, we decided to team up with Universal, who was also looking to get into the kids business. Actually, I think it was Universal who had the idea of the hybrid channel, since they were having real trouble. We were doing okay, a lot of toon flops on our end, but a couple of hits as well. Universal? Flop after flop after flop, and 90% of that was on the networks. Because why air toons from a competing studio when you can air toons from your own? So Universal had had enough, and decided to try their hand at their own cable channel. But they didn't actually have enough to fill a channel on our own. Neither did we, and they knew it. So with nobody else wanting to team up, we had one of one option. But even that was barely enough, so we needed some third party shows. The Program Exchange... that was a good one. It was barter syndication, so you aired a certain number of commercials for a certain company per show- General Mills, in this case- and in exchange, you got these shows for free. And what shows they were! Garfield, Rocky and Bullwinkle... hell, even Sailor Moon! Cartoon Network had the cable rights to Sailor Moon at the time, but they were losing interest. Still don't know why... these shows were huge hits! Sailor Moon in particular... it and Dragon Ball got Toonami off the ground! But another one that Sony had on their mind was this German company, TV-Loonland. Great name, I know. But a year or two back, Sony had another toon library aside from their own, Sunbow. They owned it through their old Sony Wonder label, which for some godforesaken reason was under Sony Music rather than Sony Pictures. But then Sony Wonder sold off Sunbow and the rest of their TV department to TV-Loonland, and when we were thinking up Animax in the states as its own channel, Sony Wonder was all like "oh sh*t, we f*cked up"- (laughs) Can I- can I say that? Anyway, they were like, "we f*cked up", and we at Sony Pictures were like "you think?" I think the reasoning was that Sunbow was going through a bit of a rough patch at the time... they were pumping out crap like Mega Babies and The Brothers Flub. Not very appealing. But their library... oh God, the library! Not a big one, but... Jem and the Holograms! G.I. Joe! Transformers- the original one, not the CGI animal one. Combine that with Program Exchange, some of our stuff, and some of Universal's stuff like Woody Woodpecker, and you got yourself a grade-A lineup. So we decided to get TV-Loonland on board as our main third-party provider for year one. And then later we bought them out. God, I talk a lot. (laughs)
Interviewer: What made Animax stand out from other kid channels?
Steve Mosko: Well, our focus wasn't just on children's programming. We also wanted to tap into the growing popularity of adult animation, which was a rapidly growing trend in the United States at the time. Cartoon Network had just launched Adult Swim, and we thought "okay, this is something big, but it's not enough." So instead of three hours twice a week, we had eight hours every night. We also had a lot of anime. Well, okay, not a LOT a lot of anime, at least at first... hell, I think at launch, Toonami aired more anime in three hours than we did in 24. But we did include anime, and we were dead-set on including anime. This was for two seasons. One, the original Japanese Animax was devoted entirely to anime at the time. Even today, it still airs more anime than the other feeds. Understandable, given how it's the Japanese feed. And two, Sony was trying to get on the anime boom in the States. We were struggling to get Rurouni Kenshin picked up by US networks- we changed it and cut it and renamed it "Samurai X", which might just be the dumbest. But with Animax, a network that we owned- well, co-owned- and could include cartoons for adults as well as kids, we could air Rurouni Kenshin ... original title and all.
Interviewer: Can you tell us about any particular challenges you faced during the launch of Animax?
Steve Mosko: One of the challenges was convincing cable companies to pick up the network. Some were hesitant, as they felt it was too similar to existing channels like Cartoon Network. Which... you know, fair. You can't quite have a NETWORK dedicated to CARTOONS and not be seen as a clone of CARTOON NETWORK. However, we were willing to go the distance, stand out from the crowd, get as many adults on board as kids, market the everloving motherf*cking sh*t out of it, and boom! Second place in the kid and animation, baby! Behind Nickelodeon, of course. Because it doesn't matter how good your shows are, cause at the end of the day... Nick has SpongeBob. And kids love SpongeBob.
~~~
GET ANIMATED WITH ANIMAX: COLUMBIA TRISTAR AND UNIVERSAL LAUNCH NEW ANIMATION CHANNEL IN THE US - January 15, 2002 (press release)
Animax, a new cable channel dedicated to animation for all ages, is set to launch in the United States this September. Animax is a joint venture between Columbia Tristar Television and Universal Studios, with TV-Loonland and barter syndication service The Program Exchange providing extra programming.
"We are thrilled to be bringing the Animax brand to the United States," said Steve Mosko, President of Columbia TriStar Domestic Television. "With our rich animation libraries, we are confident that Animax will be a destination for animation lovers of all ages."
"Universal has a long history of producing quality animation, and we are excited to partner with Columbia Tristar to bring the Animax brand to the United States," said Rick Finklestein, President of Universal Studios Television Distribution. "We look forward to providing viewers with a wide range of animated programming that will appeal to everyone in the family."
Animax's programming lineup will feature classic cartoons such as "Woody Woodpecker", "Rocky and Bullwinkle", "Mr. Magoo", and "Garfield and Friends", as well as newer series such as "Big Guy and Rusty" and 1996’s "Casper" cartoon. The channel will also showcase action-packed favorites like "Ghostbusters", "Godzilla", "Men in Black", and "The Transformers", as well as female-led "girl power" shows like "Sailor Moon" and "Carmen Sandiego". Additionally, Animax will feature sophisticated adult animation including "Dilbert", "The Critic", "The Savage Dragon", and "Starship Troopers". In addition to popular reruns, Animax will debut exclusive, new-to-America series such as "Rurouni Kenshin", "Dan Dare", and "Fat Dog Mendoza".
In addition to the aforementioned launch series, "Jackie Chan Adventures", "Max Steel", "The Mummy", "Phantom Investigators", and "Casper and Friends" (not to be confused with 1996’s "Casper") are all expected to make their debuts on Animax in 2003. Original and exclusive series, such as new Spider-Man and Astro Boy series, are also expected to debut on the network that year, alongside series from other companies, such as Toei Animation, BRB International, and Nelvana Enterprises. Columbia Tristar currently collaborates with Toei, BRB, and Nelvana in programming Telemundo’s weekend morning blocks.
"We believe Animax will be a great addition to the American television landscape, and we can't wait for viewers to experience the wide range of animated programming we have to offer," said Mosko.
Animax is set to launch this September and will be available in five million households on cable and satellite providers including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, and Dish Network.
Steve Mosko: Back in 2001, I was heading Columbia Tristar Television, which was a subsidiary of Sony. (chuckles) Still is, actually, just under a different name.
Interviewer: How did the idea for Animax come about?
Steve Mosko: The idea for Animax actually originated in Japan, as an anime TV channel owned by Sony and several anime producers. It had been quite successful there, and we saw potential in expanding it internationally. So we used the brand for our own series of "do-it-yourself" kids blocks, which basically meant you could pick two or more shows from Columbia Tristar's lineup at the time- you know, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, Men in Black, Jackie Chan... I think we had Transformers at the time? But, you know, the one with the CGI animals? That one. But only overseas. Anyway, pick at least two of them, and you get a big shiny Animax graphics package to tie them together. And that did very well internationally, but we wanted to launch Animax in the biggest market yet... the United States. We tried the DIY block approach first, through syndication, but none of the stations we pitched it to wanted it. "Nobody watches syndicated toons anymore," they all said. "The big toon money's in cable." And they were right.
Interviewer: What was the process like for launching the channel in the United States?
Steve Mosko: It was a challenging process, as we were competing with other major movie studios that already owned their own channels that either focused on or aired a lot of animation... mainly for kids. You had Paramount with Nickelodeon and then Nicktoons, Warner with Cartoon Network and Boomerang, at the time you had Fox with Fox Family, and Disney with... well, Toon Disney. Now Disney X-D or Disney LOL or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. And at some point the main Disney Channel aired cartoons. Why don't they air cartoons much anymore? Disney was a famous animator, for god's sake! (chuckles) So anyway, we decided to team up with Universal, who was also looking to get into the kids business. Actually, I think it was Universal who had the idea of the hybrid channel, since they were having real trouble. We were doing okay, a lot of toon flops on our end, but a couple of hits as well. Universal? Flop after flop after flop, and 90% of that was on the networks. Because why air toons from a competing studio when you can air toons from your own? So Universal had had enough, and decided to try their hand at their own cable channel. But they didn't actually have enough to fill a channel on our own. Neither did we, and they knew it. So with nobody else wanting to team up, we had one of one option. But even that was barely enough, so we needed some third party shows. The Program Exchange... that was a good one. It was barter syndication, so you aired a certain number of commercials for a certain company per show- General Mills, in this case- and in exchange, you got these shows for free. And what shows they were! Garfield, Rocky and Bullwinkle... hell, even Sailor Moon! Cartoon Network had the cable rights to Sailor Moon at the time, but they were losing interest. Still don't know why... these shows were huge hits! Sailor Moon in particular... it and Dragon Ball got Toonami off the ground! But another one that Sony had on their mind was this German company, TV-Loonland. Great name, I know. But a year or two back, Sony had another toon library aside from their own, Sunbow. They owned it through their old Sony Wonder label, which for some godforesaken reason was under Sony Music rather than Sony Pictures. But then Sony Wonder sold off Sunbow and the rest of their TV department to TV-Loonland, and when we were thinking up Animax in the states as its own channel, Sony Wonder was all like "oh sh*t, we f*cked up"- (laughs) Can I- can I say that? Anyway, they were like, "we f*cked up", and we at Sony Pictures were like "you think?" I think the reasoning was that Sunbow was going through a bit of a rough patch at the time... they were pumping out crap like Mega Babies and The Brothers Flub. Not very appealing. But their library... oh God, the library! Not a big one, but... Jem and the Holograms! G.I. Joe! Transformers- the original one, not the CGI animal one. Combine that with Program Exchange, some of our stuff, and some of Universal's stuff like Woody Woodpecker, and you got yourself a grade-A lineup. So we decided to get TV-Loonland on board as our main third-party provider for year one. And then later we bought them out. God, I talk a lot. (laughs)
Interviewer: What made Animax stand out from other kid channels?
Steve Mosko: Well, our focus wasn't just on children's programming. We also wanted to tap into the growing popularity of adult animation, which was a rapidly growing trend in the United States at the time. Cartoon Network had just launched Adult Swim, and we thought "okay, this is something big, but it's not enough." So instead of three hours twice a week, we had eight hours every night. We also had a lot of anime. Well, okay, not a LOT a lot of anime, at least at first... hell, I think at launch, Toonami aired more anime in three hours than we did in 24. But we did include anime, and we were dead-set on including anime. This was for two seasons. One, the original Japanese Animax was devoted entirely to anime at the time. Even today, it still airs more anime than the other feeds. Understandable, given how it's the Japanese feed. And two, Sony was trying to get on the anime boom in the States. We were struggling to get Rurouni Kenshin picked up by US networks- we changed it and cut it and renamed it "Samurai X", which might just be the dumbest. But with Animax, a network that we owned- well, co-owned- and could include cartoons for adults as well as kids, we could air Rurouni Kenshin ... original title and all.
Interviewer: Can you tell us about any particular challenges you faced during the launch of Animax?
Steve Mosko: One of the challenges was convincing cable companies to pick up the network. Some were hesitant, as they felt it was too similar to existing channels like Cartoon Network. Which... you know, fair. You can't quite have a NETWORK dedicated to CARTOONS and not be seen as a clone of CARTOON NETWORK. However, we were willing to go the distance, stand out from the crowd, get as many adults on board as kids, market the everloving motherf*cking sh*t out of it, and boom! Second place in the kid and animation, baby! Behind Nickelodeon, of course. Because it doesn't matter how good your shows are, cause at the end of the day... Nick has SpongeBob. And kids love SpongeBob.
~~~
GET ANIMATED WITH ANIMAX: COLUMBIA TRISTAR AND UNIVERSAL LAUNCH NEW ANIMATION CHANNEL IN THE US - January 15, 2002 (press release)
Animax, a new cable channel dedicated to animation for all ages, is set to launch in the United States this September. Animax is a joint venture between Columbia Tristar Television and Universal Studios, with TV-Loonland and barter syndication service The Program Exchange providing extra programming.
"We are thrilled to be bringing the Animax brand to the United States," said Steve Mosko, President of Columbia TriStar Domestic Television. "With our rich animation libraries, we are confident that Animax will be a destination for animation lovers of all ages."
"Universal has a long history of producing quality animation, and we are excited to partner with Columbia Tristar to bring the Animax brand to the United States," said Rick Finklestein, President of Universal Studios Television Distribution. "We look forward to providing viewers with a wide range of animated programming that will appeal to everyone in the family."
Animax's programming lineup will feature classic cartoons such as "Woody Woodpecker", "Rocky and Bullwinkle", "Mr. Magoo", and "Garfield and Friends", as well as newer series such as "Big Guy and Rusty" and 1996’s "Casper" cartoon. The channel will also showcase action-packed favorites like "Ghostbusters", "Godzilla", "Men in Black", and "The Transformers", as well as female-led "girl power" shows like "Sailor Moon" and "Carmen Sandiego". Additionally, Animax will feature sophisticated adult animation including "Dilbert", "The Critic", "The Savage Dragon", and "Starship Troopers". In addition to popular reruns, Animax will debut exclusive, new-to-America series such as "Rurouni Kenshin", "Dan Dare", and "Fat Dog Mendoza".
In addition to the aforementioned launch series, "Jackie Chan Adventures", "Max Steel", "The Mummy", "Phantom Investigators", and "Casper and Friends" (not to be confused with 1996’s "Casper") are all expected to make their debuts on Animax in 2003. Original and exclusive series, such as new Spider-Man and Astro Boy series, are also expected to debut on the network that year, alongside series from other companies, such as Toei Animation, BRB International, and Nelvana Enterprises. Columbia Tristar currently collaborates with Toei, BRB, and Nelvana in programming Telemundo’s weekend morning blocks.
"We believe Animax will be a great addition to the American television landscape, and we can't wait for viewers to experience the wide range of animated programming we have to offer," said Mosko.
Animax is set to launch this September and will be available in five million households on cable and satellite providers including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, and Dish Network.
Last edited:
