Sony Bets Big on Crunchyroll as Global Anime Audience Grows

Sony Pictures Entertainment is consolidating its anime businesses under the Crunchyroll banner to better compete in the growing streaming market for Japanese animation. From a report: The company is adding hundreds of hours of programming and dozens of titles, including "Cowboy Bebop," to the Crunchyroll streaming service that were previously available through its Funimation outlet, the company said Tuesday. Culver City-based Sony Pictures, the film and TV entertainment arm of Tokyo electronics giant Sony Corp., made a big bet on the anime market last year when it bought streaming service Crunchyroll from AT&T for $1.175 billion. The problem was that Sony then had two subscription streamers focused on the market for Japanese animation. Fans had to subscribe to both Crunchyroll and Funimation to get everything they wanted, in addition to Netflix and other services, said Colin Decker, who runs Sony's anime businesses.

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