Amazon is now offering anime fans access to FunimationNow through Prime Video Channels, but for now it’s only available to Prime members in the U.K.
Prime members in the U.K. can subscribe to FunimationNow for an add-on subscription of £4.99 per month (with a 7-day free trial). A rep for Funimation, which is owned by Sony Pictures Television, said there are no plans to add the service to Prime Video in the U.S.
Amazon’s deal for Funimation in the U.K. comes after the anime distributor ended its cross-licensing deal effective earlier this month with AT&T-owned Crunchyroll after two years.
It’s the first Sony Pictures Television service to launch on Prime Video in the U.K. The FunimationNow service is currently available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, priced at $5.99 per month (or $59.99 for a one-year subscription).
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FunimationNow includes a lineup of hundreds of new and classic anime shows and movies, with both English subtitles and dubbing. The service includes such popular anime series as “My Hero Academia,” “Attack on Titan,” “Black Clover,” “Overlord” and “Assassination Classroom.” This fall, the service is slated to release new anime shows including “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” “SSSS Gridman,” “Black Clover” season 2 (pictured above) and the final season of “Fairy Tail.”
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In addition, according to SPT, FunimationNow will also soon provide access to new shows with English subtitles the day after they air in Japan, with English-dubbed versions available a few weeks later.
“We are pleased to be working with Amazon to offer FunimationNow as part of their Prime Video Channels lineup,” Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO at Funimation, said in a statement. “This will further expand our global footprint and enables us to bring the best in anime to many more fans in the U.K.”
In the U.K., Amazon’s Prime Video Channels offers over 70 channels with live and on-demand entertainment and sports, available as individual subscriptions. Those include Lionsgate’s Starzplay, ITV Hub+, Discovery, MGM, and BFI Player.