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NEWS: Report: AT&T Offers Crunchyroll to Sony for US$1.5 Billion


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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:09 pm Reply with quote
I've been seeing similar reports lately, though not with a claimed price attached. DC Comics is seeing significant layoffs and supposedly AT&T has been shopping WB Games around looking for buyers, even though it turns a profit. The various reports all refer back to AT&Ts large amount of debt following its recent acquisitions, so the impression I'm left with is they realized they got too big for their own good.
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Sobe



Joined: 04 Jun 2011
Posts: 880
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:09 pm Reply with quote
AT&T has been bleeding money (because of their own mistakes) so I'm not surprised at this desperate sale. Hopefully it means good things for Crunchyroll. The last thing any of us need is for less anime streaming platforms to choose from. I know some subscribers will bitch and whine they have to subscribe to both Funi and CR currently but they haven't seen what Amazon would do if Amazon wanted to choke the anime industry dry.
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Hagaren Viper



Joined: 28 Apr 2011
Posts: 761
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Not that I didn't like the Funimation/Crunchy partnership, but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Sony owning stakes in both companies.
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Well, that'll be the end of (non-Ghibli) anime on HBO Max. Sad
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FlowerAiko



Joined: 05 Apr 2017
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:15 pm Reply with quote
That price is insane ($500 PER SUB?!) and I'm very glad it didn't go through, the last thing we need is Sony owning Aniplex, Funi, and CR on top of that. That's pretty much a monopoly... we have Sentai, that's barely picking up anything anymore, Viz, that only cares about very mainstream titles, and Netflix, which gets maybe a show a season. Not a fan of that.
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Sheleigha



Joined: 09 May 2008
Posts: 1671
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:18 pm Reply with quote
FlowerAiko wrote:
That price is insane ($500 PER SUB?!) and I'm very glad it didn't go through, the last thing we need is Sony owning Aniplex, Funi, and CR on top of that.


I think that's looking at the customer's value, NOT the amount of the sub. They are assuming that customers will be subbing for a few years, at least.
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Ermat_46



Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 721
Location: Philippines
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:20 pm Reply with quote
So based on that, the deal didn't went through. Am I right?

FlowerAiko wrote:
That price is insane ($500 PER SUB?!) and I'm very glad it didn't go through, the last thing we need is Sony owning Aniplex, Funi, and CR on top of that. That's pretty much a monopoly... we have Sentai, that's barely picking up anything anymore, Viz, that only cares about very mainstream titles, and Netflix, which gets maybe a show a season. Not a fan of that.


Pricing it per subscriber could be a bit disingenious, though. I mean, this also means a reduction for licensing fee cost as the two companies won't need to compete and Sony already having a platform for streaming anime worldwide without the need for multiple companies like FUNimation, Wakanim and AnimeLab.
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GNPixie



Joined: 25 Jul 2018
Posts: 293
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Hagaren Viper wrote:
Not that I didn't like the Funimation/Crunchy partnership, but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Sony owning stakes in both companies.


This'd be the definition of a monopoly, would it not? Given how much ownership they both have together anyway. Then again, they are US companies and give we now how the US works with stuff like this.....


Last edited by GNPixie on Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:40 pm; edited 2 times in total
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:32 pm Reply with quote
$1.5 billion? That seems ridiculously high for only 3 million paying subscribers in a fairly crowded field where they not only have to compete with other anime streamers, but Netflix as well. CR often boasts their 70 million registered users, but I’ve never seen them say what percentage of those use the service regularly. I know a lot of people who have free CR accounts but don’t use the site often, if at all.

I know many people would like the convenience of a one stop site for the majority of anime, but I’m not too keen on having so much of the market in the hands of one company.
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Ryuji-Dono



Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Posts: 1207
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:33 pm Reply with quote
GNPixie wrote:
Hagaren Viper wrote:
Not that I didn't like the Funimation/Crunchy partnership, but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Sony owning stakes in both companies.


This'd be the definition of a monopoly, would it not? Given how much ownership they both have together anyway. Then again, they are US companies and give we now how the US workswith stuff like this.....


Except Sony is a Japanese company.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:42 pm Reply with quote
Personally, I hope Sony eventually gets Crunchy. I think it would mean more to them than it does to AT&T which means it might get more positive attention from the owner.
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Zoneflare



Joined: 11 Mar 2015
Posts: 521
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:43 pm Reply with quote
I wouldn't care if Sony bought crunchyroll as long as home releases of their titles were done.
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Weird Guy



Joined: 24 Jan 2018
Posts: 139
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:45 pm Reply with quote
by the love of god Donovan(berserk) DON'T DO IT!
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Watanabefan



Joined: 02 Oct 2017
Posts: 152
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I've been seeing similar reports lately, though not with a claimed price attached. DC Comics is seeing significant layoffs and supposedly AT&T has been shopping WB Games around looking for buyers, even though it turns a profit. The various reports all refer back to AT&Ts large amount of debt following its recent acquisitions, so the impression I'm left with is they realized they got too big for their own good.


It's the perfect storm of bad decisions and bad timing. The merger went through just in time for COVID-19 to completely shut down Hollywood, meaning the quick cash influx they were expecting from their big tent pole movies like Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 suddenly fell through. Add to it that a ton of money was spent on HBO Max just for it to get hit with a resounding "Meh" at launch and things are looking mighty grim.
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GNPixie



Joined: 25 Jul 2018
Posts: 293
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Ryuji-Dono wrote:

Except Sony is a Japanese company.


Wasn't Funi bought by Sony Pictures TV (the US TV division) though? Wouldn't that mean they'd still need to go through US courts in case there's an issue given CR's also based in the US?
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