Animax
CountrySingapore
Broadcast area
  • Southeast Asia (excluding Brunei)
  • India
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Maldives
  • Mongolia
  • Sri Lanka
[1]
NetworkAnimax
HeadquartersNumber 10, Changi Business Park Central 2 #03-01, Hansapoint @ Changi Business Park, Changi, Singapore
Programming
Language(s)Japanese
English
Indonesian
Malay
Mandarin
Thai
Vietnamese
Picture format1080i HDTV
Ownership
OwnerSony Pictures Entertainment (2004–2020)
KC Global Media Entertainment (2020–present)
Sister channelsAXN
ONE
GEM
History
Launched11 January 2004 (11 January 2004)
1 April 2020 (1 April 2020) (Vietnam, relaunch)
1 October 2021 (2021-10-01) (Unifi TV feed, Malaysia, relaunch)
1 May 2023 (2023-05-01) (Tonton, Malaysia)
Closed5 July 2013 (5 July 2013) (Vietnam, at Sony Pictures)
16 March 2021 (16 March 2021) (Laos)
1 January 2022 (1 January 2022) (Brunei and Astro Malaysia)
Links
Websitewww.animax-asia.com

Animax (stylized in all uppercase) is a pay television channel in Asia. It is the first television channel in Asia dedicated to anime, and was initially launched in Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia in January 2004.[2] Formerly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, the channel was sold to KC Global Media Asia on January 1, 2020.[3]

Animax primarily broadcasts Japanese language programming, including same-day anime simulcasts, and anime-related programming, through English-language feeds in Southeast Asia (excluding Brunei), South and East Asia.

History

On December 17, 2015, Animax Asia announced that it would begin broadcasting in high definition (HD), with high definition channel being a simulcast with its standard definition (SD) channel, carrying the same content.[4]

Hong Kong

Animax first launched in Hong Kong on 11 January 2004. It broadcasts a variety of anime programming, from old to modern television series. Animax also airs anime series that premiered in Hong Kong prior to their release in Southeast Asian networks, some of them are Death Note, Blood+, Trinity Blood and Mushishi. After the TV premiere of Gurren Lagann, Animax's TV ratings recorded a huge increase and moved 80% more TRP than its closest competitor, Cartoon Network Asia.[5][6]

Southeast Asia

A week after its launch in Hong Kong, Animax was launched in Southeast Asia on 19 January 2004, initially featuring its anime programming exclusively in the original Japanese audio with English subtitling, becoming the company's first English language network.[7] It also later incorporated an English audio dub feed.[7]

Programming blocks seen include "Ani-Chan", which is aired on weekdays at 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm (featuring shows such as Naruto, Danball Senki (a.k.a. Little Battlers eXperience) and Tsubasa Chronicle); "Animania", which is aired on weekdays from 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm (featuring the Dragon Ball franchise and Law of Ueki); "Mega Zone", its prime time programming block is aired on weekdays from 7:00 pm; and its weekend programming block aired every Sunday at 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm.[8]

On July 5, 2013, Animax was forced to close down in Vietnam due to government content restrictions.[9] 7 years later, on 1 April 2020, it was relaunched on VTVCab and later distributed by MSky to other cable or pay TV providers, some titles are available with Vietnamese subtitles.[10]

Malaysia

Astro began broadcasting the channel on 31 August 2006. The channel ceased transmission on January 1, 2022; however selected anime series broadcast by Animax is still made available on Astro's Video-on-Demand platform and Astro GO.[11]

Unifi TV started rebroadcasting Animax on 1 June 2017 along with Sony Channel.[12][13] They initially ceased its transmission of the channel on 1 July 2020, but would resume on 1 October 2021 along with introduction of AXN & GEM, two other channels owned by KC Global Media Asia.[14][15]

On May 1, 2023, Animax relaunched in Malaysia via tonton alongside its sister channel GEM.

South Asia

India

On 18 April 2017, Animax India ceased broadcasting in India, with Sony Yay ultimately replacing the network. Sony would later make the Asian feed of Animax available on its Indian digital platform, Sony LIV, until 8 May 2020, when several Sony-owned networks were acquired by KC earlier that week. On 20 January 2023, Animax Asia started broadcasting in India exclusively via the streaming platform, JioTV.[16][17] Animax is also available on Amazon Prime Video along with GEM [18]

Sri Lanka

On 30 June 2023,[19] Animax expanded its reach to Sri Lanka via an exclusive partnership with Dialog Television, a satellite TV company based in Sri Lanka under the Axiata conglomerate.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "GET ANIMAX". Animax. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  2. ↑ Sony Pictures Entertainment to Launch Animax Asia, Press Release, SPE, 29 October 2003, Anime News Network.
  3. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (January 7, 2020). "Sony Pictures Sells Asia Channels to Former Executives Andy Kaplan and George Chien (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Animax Asia Launches HD Broadcast on Thursday". Anime News Network. December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Animax tops ratings among local youths". Marketing Interactive. Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  6. ↑ "Animax – Youth Channel of Choice in Hong Kong and Taiwan". Sony Pictures Television International. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  7. 1 2 "About | Animax Asia". Sony Pictures Television International. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Animax Asia". Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  9. ↑ "Thông báo ngừng phát sóng kênh Animax trên hệ thống số của VTVcab" [Announcement of the closure of Animax in Vietnam] (in Vietnamese). VTVCab. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Lần đầu tiên các series phim hoạt hình nhật bản phát sóng trên VTVcab" [For the first time, all the anime series from Japan will broadcast in VTVCab] (in Vietnamese). VTVCab. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Astro to end Animax channel". 23 December 2021.
  12. ↑ "Cease transmission of Animax HD channel". 17 June 2020.
  13. ↑ "TM HyppTV".
  14. ↑ "#Showbiz: New channels, streaming platforms on Unifi TV in Oct | New Straits Times". 20 September 2021.
  15. ↑ "Newsroom UNIFI UPS ITS CONVERGENCE GAME WITH NEW CONTENT OFFERINGS".
  16. ↑ Nair, Rupesh (2023-01-22). "Animax, the Popular 24-Hour Network for Anime Is Finally Back in India With Reliance JioTV". IGN India. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  17. ↑ "KC GLOBAL MEDIA EXPANDS TO INDIA BY FANS' POPULAR DEMAND WITH THE DEBUT OF ANIMAX ON JIOTV". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  18. ↑ "KC Global Media joins hands with Prime Video to Bring Animax + GEM to India - Check subscription fee and other details". Zee Business. 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  19. ↑ "KC GLOBAL MEDIA EXPANDS IN ASIA WITH ANIMAX'S INAUGURAL LAUNCH IN SRI LANKA ON DIALOG TELEVISION : Asia Video Industry Association". avia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
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