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


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Ryuji-Dono



Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Posts: 1207
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:54 pm Reply with quote
GNPixie wrote:
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?


Oh right, that makes sense.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:04 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, there's no way each sub is worth to close to that much money. What an insulting offer
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:08 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, AT&T has been a TERRIBLE manager for WB so far. Them scrambling to settle their debt by selling off whatever is pretty pathetic.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1112
Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:26 pm Reply with quote
Sobe wrote:
Hopefully it means good things for Crunchyroll.


Big Money does not equate to good things for us, anime fandom. Big Money want Big Profits - and soon.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:30 pm Reply with quote
That sounds good given that Sony already have a lot of control as it is on the western market.
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
Posts: 1032
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:35 pm Reply with quote
GNPixie wrote:
This'd be the definition of a monopoly, would it not?


Only if regulators consider anime streaming an industry unto itself and not part of the larger streaming world. I mean, Long John Silver's is the only fast food fish chain in the US, but it's not considered a monopoly because it's competing against KFC, McDonald's and Arbys.
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Ushio



Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 629
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:44 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.



AT&T bought Time Warner so they could give free HBO Max to postpaid mobile phone subscribers to cut churn currently decreasing at over $500million a year in profit (not revenue). If free HBO Max can cut that churn rate while Time Warner continued to bring in the $10 billion a year in net income it was then it would pay for itself in less than a decade.

Unfortunately Corvid has ruined that so AT&T is looking for bits it can sell to at least pay the interest on it's debt.
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Ushio



Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 629
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:46 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.


Sony wouldn't own stakes in both companies Sony already owns 100% of Funimation and if this sale goes through would own 100% of Crunchyroll.
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Ushio



Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 629
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:48 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. 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.


So would pay it self back within 6 years and that's before any future growth which is being assumed. Since that's why sales happen either consolidation of a dying industry or growth of a continuing industry.
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 1994
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:01 pm Reply with quote
Well I don't know about that sum, but I've recently been experiencing streaming quality issues with Crunchy, and it seems that others have too suggesting server issues, and that odd thing of series being reordered to the front of your que and now having not logging in automatically (All this referring to the PS4 app), I may reevaluate my sub next year if this keeps up.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:05 pm Reply with quote
Oh wow Laughing

I guess Funi and Crunchyroll might be working together after all. My biggest concern is what happens when Sony decides they're done with this whole anime thing. If they just pull up anchor and leave, it could decimate the western industry.


Last edited by v1cious on Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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TemplateR



Joined: 26 Mar 2017
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Is AT&T offers only the Streaming "Crunchyroll" or also VIZ Media Europe and co.?
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CastMember1991



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 857
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:25 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
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.


I especially wouldn't mind Sony building a Funimation and/or Crunchyroll app into future Bravia smart TVs. Imagine watching an anime app built into an 8K set.
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omoikane



Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 494
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:27 pm Reply with quote
GNPixie wrote:
This'd be the definition of a monopoly, would it not?

Probably not depending on how you define monopoly, which is an extremely technical thing at time.

From marketshare, you could say that CR had dibs on majority of titles on *streaming* in NA region since 2009 until maybe 2019, when a lot of titles went to Funimation. From home video sales point of view, Funi had the dominant market position during that period but it may or may not have been a majority. The two combined will likely mean they have return to simply what CR was before 2018 but it doesn't make a big change on home video sales in North America.

This is still in light of players like Amazon and Netflix, who are much more wealthy, still going strong in the streaming market, in a more crowded space now than even back when CR and Funi were partnering. But it isn't like CR was cornering the market at any given time during their existence. Rights owners can still sell to Hulu and other streaming services. So it doesn't really mean that much from a monopoly perspective.
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Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 4:14 pm Reply with quote
Pretty crazy money amounts for a site that started out as a pirate site. Shocked
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