FUNimation acquires Manga Entertainment

[Daikun]

Wow! This is a surprise.

Sony’s Funimation Acquires U.K. Anime Distributor Manga Entertainment

Sony Pictures Television's Funimation acquired Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime titles in the U.K. and Ireland.

variety.com

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Funimation will merge Manga’s business with the Funimation U.K. home entertainment business and will begin distributing many shows in the Manga catalog to subscribers of the FunimationNow streaming service in the U.K. and Ireland.

Title available immediately include “Sword Art Online” season 1, “Akira,” “Ghost in the Shell: Innocence,” “A Certain Magical Index” (the movie and seasons 1 & 2), “A Certain Scientific Railgun” (seasons 1 & 2), “Bayonetta (The Movie): Bloody Fate,” “Casshern Sins,” “Samurai Warriors” season 1, “Soul Eater Not!,” “Summer Wars,” “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and “Wolf Children.” Additional Manga titles slated to come to Funimation in the U.K. and Ireland in the next several months include series “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” and “Naruto Shippuden.”

 

[The Master C]

This most likely means that the Manga UK name is going to disappear soon to avoid confusion with Manga USA, which is still over at Lionsgate.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

This most likely means that the Manga UK name is going to disappear soon to avoid confusion with Manga USA, which is still over at Lionsgate.

Eh, not so sure about that.

 

[The Master C]

Eh, not so sure about that.

Why do you say that? What reason do they have to keep both the Manga and Funimation names in the UK as opposed to dropping one of them?

Also, doesn't this mean that Funimation is now on the production committee of Ghost in the Shell?

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Why do you say that? What reason do they have to keep both the Manga and Funimation names in the UK as opposed to dropping one of them?

Because I think there will be a deal between Lionsgate and Funimation that would allow the latter to continue using the Manga name in the UK. It's been done before such as Fox Corporation allowed Disney to continue using the Fox name after they merged with 21st Century Fox and licencing agreements for TV networks are actually common in Canada as in the owner of an American cable TV network agreeing to licence the name and programming to a Canadian TV company.