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Crunchyroll Launches on Whale Smart TVs
posted on by Anita Tai
Crunchyroll announced on Tuesday that its streaming service is now available on Whale TV-enabled smart televisions. Whale TV owners can add Crunchyroll to the OS through the TV's app store.
Crunchyroll launched its app on Samsung smart televisions in 2024.
The company launched a 24/7 free ad-supported Crunchyroll Channel on the Samsung TV Plus service in October.
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 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 began 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
