Streaming service Crunchyroll announced that it has launched a traditional TV channel for a variety of channel networks. The move seems to be a safe bet to garner greater attention to Crunchyroll with a variety of older, English-dubbed shows. Online streaming will likely remain the priority by getting the premium and latest shows first.
The new Crunchyroll channel was already been rolled out on certain TV networks just as it made its press release. Judging by the channels, the 24-hour linear channel will mostly serve as an "economy class" sample, with limited options. The ultimate goal will be to draw in TV-adherent viewers towards trying the online streaming service, with its subscription plan. It's an age-old tactic that nonetheless still creates more options.
Crunchyroll Channel Provides Older Anime for Free
The press release, reported by Anime News Network along with other news media, revealed that Crunchyroll collaborated with the Game Show Network - both Sony-owned - to create the channel. It runs 24/7 using a linear schedule and is supported by ads and commercials. It already has launched on LG Channels, the Roku Channel, and VIZIO WatchFree+, and will also be available on Amazon’s Freevee on October 17, the week after. Some shows currently slated to run include Horimiya, Ranking of Kings, Moriarty the Patriot, Psycho-Pass, Arifureta, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, To Your Eternity, and Code Geass, using their English dubs.
Crunchyroll promises to add "promotional, genre-based and themed programming blocks", so more shows based on unifying concepts in the future. While Crunchyroll is currently the undisputed king of anime streaming, it likely seeks to penetrate demographics who prefer traditional viewing, hence the old-school format of the Crunchyroll channel. With its English-only offerings on subscription-free channels like Roku and WatchFree+, it's clear it hopes to win over a few skeptics who'd only watch anime at its most accessible, and see if any have it in their hearts to listen to Japanese, read subtitles, and open their wallets to watch the latest.
This may be a cynical reading of Crunchyroll's new service, but doesn't mean the channel has to be rejected. Any new channel that makes anime more commonplace is acceptable, and the "economy-class" viewing still makes it convenient to leave older shows running. The likes of Psycho-Pass or Code Geass, whose episodes number in the 20s to the 50s, may well find new life as marathon shows, either left on in the background or otherwise. As such, if Crunchyroll can afford to show free anime, we should welcome it and any new interest in the medium it engenders in TV adherents.
Source: Crunchyroll, Variety