Sony‘s anime subsidiary Funimation has closed its $1.175bn deal to buy AT&T-owned anime streaming service Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll recently hit 5m subscriptions and 120m registered users.
Documentary streaming service CuriosityStream has also hit a subscriber milestone, finishing Q2 2020 with 20m subscriptions. ViacomCBS-owned Paramount+ is to launch in the UK, Italy and Germany in 2022 following a carriage deal with Comcast-owned satellite pay TV platform Sky.
The streaming service will be bundled as part of the Sky Cinema premium package at no extra cost to subscribers and also reach Ireland, Austria and Switzerland.
That’s good news for European fans of South Park; ViacomCBS has just signed a $900m deal with the adult-animation’s creators to produce exclusive content for Paramount+. The wide-ranging deal also includes six new seasons of the show and 14 movies.
German streaming service RTL TV Now is making good on its plans to rebrand to the adventurous moniker of RTL+. It will begin an international rollout in 2022. Focusing its efforts on the Hispanic market, NBCUniversal Telemundo is ramping up its streaming plans with a new division focused on producing Spanish-language content for Peacock and other NBCUniversal and Telemundo digital platforms.
Roku Channel is adding more original content from the Quibi library touting the success of the content it acquired from the short-lived short-form platform. The shows, rebranded as Roku Originals, are proving a hit with viewers, Roku claims.
Top flight Spanish soccer league, LaLiga, is reportedly looking to launch its own direct-to-consumer service in Spain; the majority of the domestic rights for the competition are currently held by Telefónica’s Movistar, with some sub-licensed to Orange. The move was touted as part of a wider deal in which CVC Capital Partners will take a 10% stake in a new holding company that will control the majority of LaLiga’s business.
AMC Theaters has agreed a 45-day theatrical window with Warner Bros. for its 2022 move slate. The window is the same as one already agreed between Warner Bros. and Cineworld-owned US theater chain Regal.
TikTok parent company ByteDance is reportedly back on track for a Hong Kong IPO, after the company recently ‘indefinitely’ shelved its plans on fears of the tough regulatory environment for Chinese tech companies. The company was recently said to be worth $400bn-$450bn.