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  1. #1
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    Sony Set to Acquire Crunchyroll for Nearly USD $1B

    Sony is currently the only participant in a bid to acquire Crunchyroll from AT&T for USD $957,000,000.00.

    They've fully owned Funimation since 2017.

    From a Nikkei Asia article:

    Quote Originally Posted by Nikkei Asia
    TOKYO -- Sony has entered into final negotiations to acquire U.S. anime-streaming service Crunchyroll, Nikkei learned on Friday, a deal that could catapult the Japanese icon into a global battle with the likes of Netflix.

    Sony could end up spending more than 100 billion yen ($957 million) on the U.S. streamer, gaining its 70 million members around the world.

    Sony has its own popular anime like "Kimetsu no Yaiba" ("Demon Slayer"), but has been licensing it to streaming services. Sony's Aniplex, the studio behind "Kimetsu no Yaiba," has a variety of content, including movies and music, that is mainly distributed by overseas companies.

    If the acquisition is realized, global competition for content among companies like Netflix and Hulu will intensify.

    Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 and has its headquarters in San Francisco. In 2018, AT&T, the U.S. telecommunications giant, became its parent company.

    Sony recently obtained the exclusive right to negotiate for Crunchyroll.

    After acquiring Funimation, an anime distributor, in 2017, Sony gained 1 million paying subscribers, mainly in the U.S., but came up against obstacles expanding this customer base.

    Crunchyroll has 70 million free members and 3 million paying subscribers in more than 200 countries and regions, including the U.S. and Europe.

    Crunchyroll would also give Sony more than 1,000 titles that it can use to vary its offerings.

    Sony's total operating income from games, music and movies is forecast to reach $4.79 billion for the fiscal year ending March, accounting for 60% of the group total.

    The company once known for Trinitron TVs and Walkman personal stereos has grown into an entertainment colossus that plans to strengthen this side of its business by building on Crunchyroll's membership base.

    With the coronavirus convincing people around the world to entertain themselves at home, demand for video distribution services is swelling and competition for popular content is intensifying. Netflix, the largest streamer, is forming alliances with animation studios, while Disney last year took its popular library and began its own streaming service.

    According to The Association of Japanese Animations, the global anime market in 2018 was worth about $21 billion, 1.5 times that of five years earlier. The overseas market accounts for nearly half of total demand.

  2. #2
    Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy ya
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    Soooo what does this mean for those who subscribe to both Funimation and crunchyroll?

  3. #3
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    You'll probably maintain individual subscriptions until such time / if they decide to combine the properties and make them available on a single service.

    Sony actually had a pay TV streaming service called "Vue" which they discontinued in 2019.
    With Neftlix, Hulu, and D+ holding such larger market shares, I guess it made more fiscal sense to shut down Vue, make acquisitions like these, and go the third party licensor/distributor route.

    Regarding Crunchyroll's current parent AT&T, they own HBO, Warner (DC, The CW), Turner (TBS, Adult Swim), etc., and HBO Max is their streaming service.

    If nothing else, this means that AT&T (along with Netflix & Hulu) will have to go through/pay Sony to license the streaming rights for Crunchyroll media.

    I doubt Sony will reboot/rebrand Vue, but they certainly have enough intellectual property from ongoing flagship feature films (e.g. Spiderman, Men in Black, Jumanji, Smurfs, Hotel Transylvania) and legacy broadcast TV (Seinfeld, Married with Children, Mad About You, The Nanny, etc.) to gate exclusivity of certain content on their home consoles via PS Network distribution.

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  5. #5
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    F. Funimation is garbage.

  6. #6
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    If they moved all of Funimation's content to Crunchyroll's site/format, that would be perfect.
    So it's never gonna happen.

  7. #7
    Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy ya
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    Crunchyroll’s updated format/UI isn’t too hot either. They’re both garbage.