Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll, Inc. is an American website and international online community focused on video streaming East Asian media including anime, manga, drama, music, electronic entertainment, and auto racing content. Founded in 2006 by a group of University of California, Berkeley graduates, Crunchyroll's distribution channel and partnership program delivers content to over twenty million online community members worldwide. Crunchyroll is co-owned by Otter Media (a joint venture between AT&T and The Chernin Group) and TV Tokyo.

Crunchyroll offers over 200 anime shows and more than 200 Asian dramas to users, although not all programming is available worldwide due to licensing restrictions.

History
Crunchyroll started in 2006 as a for-profit video upload and streaming site that specialized in hosting East Asian video content. Some of the content hosted on Crunchyroll included fansubbed versions of East Asian shows.

In 2008, Crunchyroll secured a capital investment of $4.05 million from the venture capital firm Venrock.[6] The investment drew criticism from anime distributors and licensors Bandai Entertainment and Funimation as the site continued to allow users to upload illegal copies of licensed titles.[7]

However, Crunchyroll eventually began securing legal distribution agreements with companies, including Gonzo, for an increasing number of titles. On January 8, 2009, after announcing a deal with TV Tokyo to host episodes of Naruto Shippuden, Crunchyroll stated that it was committed to removing all copyright-infringing material from its site and to hosting only content to which it had legitimate distribution rights.[8]

In 2010, Crunchyroll announced its acquisition of the North American DVD rights to 5 Centimeters Per Second. This was the first DVD release licensed by Crunchyroll.[9]

On October 30, 2013, Crunchyroll began digitally distributing 12 different manga titles from Kodansha – series such as Attack on Titan and Fairy Tail were part of the manga that were available initially – through Crunchyroll Manga.[10]

On December 2, 2013, The Chernin Group, former News Corp. president Peter Chernin's holding company, announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in Crunchyroll. A person with knowledge of the transaction said the price for the acquisition was close to $100 million. The Chernin Group said that Crunchyroll management and existing investor TV Tokyo will maintain a "significant" stake in the company.[11][12]

On April 22, 2014, AT&T and The Chernin Group announced the formation of a joint venture to acquire, invest in and launch over-the-top (OTT) video services. Both companies committed over $500 million in funding to the venture.[13] The new company was named Otter Media and became the majority owner of Crunchyroll.[14] On August 3, 2015, Variety reported that Otter Media will unveil Ellation, a new umbrella company for its subscription-based video services including Crunchyroll.[15]

On October 22, 2015, the Anime News Network announced that Crunchyroll has 700,000 paying subscribers. In addition, it was revealed that Crunchyroll and Sumitomo Corporation created a joint venture to produce and invest in anime productions.[16][17]

On April 11, 2016, Crunchyroll and Kadokawa Corporation announced the formation of a strategic alliance that gave Crunchyroll exclusive worldwide digital distribution rights (excluding Asia) for Kadokawa anime titles in the upcoming year. It also granted Crunchyroll the right to co-finance Kadokawa anime titles to be produced in the future.[18]

On July 1, 2016, Crunchyroll announced plans to dub and release a number of series on home video.

Anime Licenses
Below is a list of anime series licensed for home video release in North America by Crunchyroll.


 * Berserk (2016)

Big Order

Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club (Season 1 only, acquired from Discotek Media)

Gin Tama (acquired from Sentai Filmworks)

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

Myriad Colors Phantom World

Twin Star Exorcists

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Availability
Free access to Crunchyroll is available on desktop browsers, and devices with Windows Phone, iOS and Android that are connected to a Wi-Fi source. However, not all content is offered for free. Some content requires a paid subscription service of $6.95/month, while other content becomes free after a delay, usually a week after availability for the paid members, and only paid members have access to the content in HD. Some titles are subscription only, based on licensing agreements. Some titles are only available in certain regions of the world; some titles available in the United States may not be available in other countries.

With paid memberships, streaming to select Windows Phone devices (with OS 7.5 or higher), Roku devices, Boxee, Wii U, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles, and Vizio, Google and Internet enabled televisions is available. In June 2013 the service became available through Apple TV.