Animax Asia was recently removed from Sony LIV, a Sony Pictures Entertainment owned Indian streaming app on 8th May.
Sony is yet to make an official statement on removing the channel. According to Variety, KC Global Media officially acquired four Asian pay-TV channels from Sony on 11th May which includes Animax Asia.
Former executives of Sony Pictures Television and founders of the KC Global Media, Andy Kaplan and George Chien struck an agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment on 7th January. According to the agreement, they acquired the entertainment networks, which are widely broadcast all over South East Asia including South Korea.
These networks include all channels in the region with the AXN branding, anime broadcasting channel Animax Asia, and the Sony One entertainment channel of South Korea. In the final agreement, they also acquired GEM, which is a popular Japanese entertainment service.
Animax India, which was the Indian division of Animax Asia, was broadcast over cable and DTH in India from July 2004 till 2012. During it’s time on air, the channel went through several modifications. Till 2006, it was available in Hindi and English.
In August 2006, the Hindi version of the channel was halted, and only the English version aired.
In 2008, it started airing several live-action series and movies with anime. In May 2010, they started airing Korean programs, adding variety to their program brochure.
After 2012, Animax India was taken off DTH and cable as the channel couldn’t pay carriage fees. Animax India made its return is 2016 on Tata Sky. But the division was shut down in April 2017 and replaced by Sony Yay. This caused an outrage among Indian Anime fans as Sony Yay didn’t broadcast their favorite anime. Sony then started streaming Animax Asia along with Yay on its Sony LIV app to provide fans their much-loved anime.
Animax Asia is still available in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Phillippines, and Singapore. Indian anime fans will now have to find an alternate platform for anime.
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