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Crunchyroll Launches Free Ad-Supported 24/7 Anime Channel on Samsung TV Plus
posted on by Alex Mateo
The channel airs anime all day from the company's catalog; such as Yū Yū Hakusho, Assassination Classroom, Black Clover, To Your Eternity, The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk, and Witchblade; in either Japanese with English subtitles or with the English dub. In addition, there are promotional programming blocks planned. The company also airs episodes of its podcast Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect.
Crunchyroll launched its app on Samsung smart televisions in 2024.
Crunchyroll launched on YouTube Primetime Channels on January 21, distributing over 40 anime on the service in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. Crunchyroll collaborated with Sony Pictures Entertainment's GSN (Game Show Network) to launch a 24/7 linear channel on Amazon Freevee, LG Channels, the Roku Channel, and VIZIO WatchFree+ first in October 2023. The company expanded its services onto Amazon's Prime Video channels in 2023, where the streaming service is available in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, the U.K. and other territories.
The company will begin offering "specially curated" anime on Delta flights as in-flight entertainment on seatback screens in early November.
Crunchyroll is an independently operated joint venture between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan's Aniplex. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex's Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) parent are both in turn subsidiaries of Tokyo-based Sony Group.
Sony's Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing. Funimation's home video releases are now listed under Crunchyroll.
Source: Press release
