wombat_socho

Personally the only way I can see it working to any sizeable extent is if the episodes became available online, subbed, at pretty much the same time they air in Japan. That means either a) Western companies securing distribution rights during production of a new title, and subbing the episodes as the series is made, or b) the Japanese companies doing the subbing themselves. That way Western fans could get their free (or subscribed-service) preview before any fansubber could manage it, and money could be made whether or not they buy the DVDs. There will always be some market for DVDs, since that's the only way high-quality dub versions are available and a lot of people don't like reading their anime.

I think you're right. With margins sucking as badly as they do right now, the Japanese studios might be more willing to sell "preview" agreements that would allow this sort of rapid subbing - it would get them some revenue where they might otherwise not, but then again, where's their incentive to change anything? The existing business model works just fine for them; it's the Stateside distributors who are sucking wind.