From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crunchyroll is an American website and international online
community focused on streaming East Asian media including anime, manga,
drama, music, electronic
entertainment, and auto racing content. Founded in 2006 by a
group of University of California-Berkeley
undergraduate students. Crunchyroll’s distribution channel and
partnership program delivers content to over five million online
community members worldwide. Crunchyroll is funded by Venrock.[2][3]
History
Crunchyroll started in 2006 as a video upload and streaming site
that specialized in hosting East Asian video content. Some of the
content hosted on Crunchyroll, such as illicitly-produced fan-subbed
versions of East Asian shows or bootlegs of official US
releases of anime titles, were illegally uploaded by users without
permission from any rights holders. However, Crunchyroll respected
DMCA and
removed copyrighted content when requested by the rights
holder.
In 2008, Crunchyroll secured a capital investment of $4.05
million from the venture capital firm Venrock.[4] The
investment drew criticism from anime distributors and licensors Bandai Entertainment and Funimation as the site continued to allow
users to upload illegal copies of licensed titles.[5]
However, Crunchyroll eventually began securing legal
distribution agreements with companies, including Gonzo, for an increasing number of titles. On
January 8, 2009, after announcing a deal with TV Tokyo to host episodes of Naruto Shippuden, Crunchyroll stated
that it was committed to removing all copyright infringing material
from its site and to hosting only content to which it had
legitimate distribution rights.[6]
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