Japan’s Nikkei newspaper (via Variety) indicates that Sony is reportedly looking to buy control of anime streaming platform Crunchyroll which is currently owned by AT&T.
Nikkei says talks have advanced sufficiently that Sony now has exclusive negotiating rights on a Crunchyroll purchase. The deal would have a price tag of around $960 million – a major step down from a $1.5 billion asking price reported in August.
Despite the coronavirus and its impact on theatrical releases, Sony has performed strong this year with shares up, a large war chest ready for picking up distressed or cut-priced assets, and the PlayStation 5 launch already poised to be a big success.
Earlier this year Sony paid $400 million for a minority stake in Bilibili, the fast-expanding online entertainment platform with a strong emphasis on name, comics and games. Sony also already own Crunchyroll’s main rival and specialty anime streamer Funimation which boasts around one million subscribers, and it’s thought the company may try to merge the two services.
As Sony doesn’t have an SVOD service like Peacock, Disney+ or HBO Max, it is obliged to license out its content to a variety of partners – Hulu has a long standing deal with Funimation, while Crunchyroll is part of HBO Max’s catalogue. Hulu and Netflix have made aggressive strides in the anime production world in recent years.
