Ask John: Why do Dubs of Certain Series Get Discontinued?

Question:
Why do companies discontinue dubbing series even if they’re doing fairly well in the market? Some companies go bankrupt, but other companies just stop making tapes. Some examples are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball Z. Those series have all been continued (except Utena, I think), but with different voices, music and companies selling them. All I want to know is why?

Answer:
The reason why series do or do not continue getting dubbed is all about money. Anime Village has canceled or discontinued several of its dubbed lines, including Silent Mobius and Eatman 98 because the dubbed tapes simply did not sell well. In the case of Sailormoon, DIC decided not to continue dubbing and broadcasting the series past its first two seasons because the series wasn’t earning high enough Nielsen ratings, which means that the show wasn’t selling enough advertising time (commercials) and wasn’t profitable enough. Utena has been long delayed due to contract negotiations between Central Park Media and the Japanese licensers. CPM originally obtained only a third of the series as a test, to see how an odd shoujo television series would sell in America. Now that time and circumstances have changed, the US license stipulations may have changed as well. The voice changes in Dragonball are accounted for in part by the dubbing studio employed to translate the series. As actors move on to other jobs, naturally new voice actors have to be brought in to take over their roles.