Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends - Time to say "Goodbye"?

Unless it has changed, this didn't used to be the case as Thomas themed products had already had the licence fee paid by the manufacturers, so it was a percentage of ticket take (no costs deduction in the calculation) only.

Steven

 

I think it changed a few years ago as it nearly led to us ditching Thomas back then, we hung on as passenger numbers were good but they've since tailed off.

 

It used to be the case that it was a percentage of the gross ticket take, but my understanding is that they recognised a further means of increasing their overall revenue from each event, and wanted a cut of the other peripheral commercial activities from the host railway.

Andy

 

What’s the Bulleid called?

 

No it won't Thomas still has a bright in future and I think I read somewhere that someone from the Awdry family said he would of supported the changes. How is having more female characters is a bad thing?

 

Quite. I watched a new episode this morning with my 4 year old and it was quite similar to an Awdry story. A school was damaged in a storm, the children needed to be taken to school elsewhere, until an old coach was found and used as a temporary classroom. There were no lesbian engines, nor was Thomas forced to contemplate issues of social inequality. Contrary to what social media would have you believe.

 

Good grief. Those changes have nothing to do with ‘political correctness’ and everything to do with building global demand for Thomas. Making characters that are recognisable to other countries and cultures makes the franchise more saleable to those countries and cultures.

Simon

 

Rebbeca

 

Urgh, is your fragile identity that threatened by "political correctness" that you can't handle a children's TV show adapting to it's changing market? Thomas is hugely popular abroad, and it's viewership is almost 45% female (which was unexpected) - hence the changes that are fully supported by members of the Awdry family

 

And before any one suggests it, the answer is NO, NO and thrice NO!

 

DO IT!

 

Whilst no doubt the new "family" is acceptable to the market, the HiT attitude in demanding both a licence fee and a percentage of the GROSS take (i.e. tickets / cafe / shop) is going to reduce the number of heritage lines willing to put on "Thomas Days" with alternatives such as "Ivor the Engine", "Friends of Thomas", "Peppa Pig" etc becoming more financially attractive within the UK. The HiT fees may have killed the Golden Goose within the UK but it depends on whether the Goose will still provide in other countries.

 

As a bit of fundraising you could always threaten to repaint in 'Rebecca' colours unless a certain target is raised...

Keith

 

Are you sure running Days out with Thomas events at Heritage Railways are much of a Golden Goose anyway for HiT? Looking at the website, there appear to be 19 locations in the UK running such events, mostly just for a weekend (a few run a more extensive programme). A fair few of those are smaller railways - only one or two of the really big railways still in the list.

So lets take some finger in the air numbers - 19 locations * average two days per location * average, say, 15oo tickets per day * average price, say, £15 * HiT licence fee of say, 25% = £213k.

Even if I am out by a factor of two or three on the numbers, its not exactly big money - hard to see the total gross income to HiT being more than around half a million per year even on optimistic assumptions about how much the events generate and how much of the gross that HiT take in licence fees. Certainly seems like small beer relative to what global TV licensing rights would be (likely tens of millions per year).

In other words - you might think that in setting their terms, HiT have killed the golden goose, but it may well be that if all the events stopped overnight, they would hardly notice, even if the host railways reliant on Thomas definitely would.

Tom

 

As I understand things:-
The licence fee is a fixed sum just to be able to use the name "Thomas". Then they take their cut of everything, not just ticket sales. Then you have to buy the faces and can only use them for 3 years before having to buy replacements and you have to buy in a new stock of thomas branded goods to sell in your shop (not allowed to sell your existing stock on the day/s)

If this is such 'small beer' for HIT, I wonder why they are so intent of clawing back such a high percentage of takings for something that is really a free advertising campaign for them?

 

Because of a mixture of greed and costs for them to do the licensing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Just say it's Stroudly Improved Engine Green, I'll back you up!

 

One miniature railway has already given up on Thomas.
http://www.steamtrain.co.uk/

According to the local free newspaper ( Eastleigh Times) Mattel decided not to renew the railways Thomas licence.

This sort of issue isn't new, I remember HRA meetings about 15 years ago where the Thomas licence conditions were the main topic of discussion.

Cheers, Neil

 

Does Eastleigh still do Undergound Ernie?

 

But it's not "free advertising". HiT will have administrative costs: individual contracts with each railway which have to be drawn up and audited; maintaining lists of accredited actors to play character roles; inspection of venues to ensure they meet quality standards and so on, all spread across a number of providers / venues.

They will sell the merchandise regardless, provided they keep the programmes on TV. So in the circumstance, easy to see why they may feel that the likely 6 figure return per year from holding licensed events on heritage railways isn't worth the hassle. By contrast, they have theme parks (for example at Drayton Manor) where I suspect the returns are higher and it is easier for them to monitor the visitor experience to ensure it meets their standards.

So I still stand by my comment - I doubt that holding events on heritage railways is much of an egg-laying golden goose for HiT.

Tom