VRV (streaming service)

Last updated

VRV
VRV logo black.png
Type of site
Video streaming service
Founded
Dissolved April 29, 2023;11 months ago (2023-04-29)
Headquarters
Area served United States
Owner
Key people
  • Arlen Marmel (VRV GM)
  • Tom Pickett (Crunchyroll CEO)
Industry Video on demand
Parent
URL Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-04-04)
RegistrationOptional
Current statusDefunct (consolidated into Crunchyroll)

VRV (officially pronounced "verve", though it is also referred to by its letters) was an American over-the-top streaming service launched in November 2016 by AT&T and the Chernin Group. Owned by Crunchyroll, LLC, run by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex, the service bundled together anime, speculative fiction, and gaming-related channels aimed at fans of such content. [1]

Contents

Some of VRV's content could be streamed for free, while other content required a subscription. The subscriptions to its channels were available for purchase individually, or in a premium bundle. VRV was available only in the United States, despite some of its partnered content being available for viewing worldwide outside the platform.

In April 2023, it was announced VRV would merge with Crunchyroll, which was completed later that month. [2] [3]

History

Ellation, owners of Crunchyroll, formally announced the launch of VRV on June 14, 2016. Its initial partners included Rooster Teeth, Seeso, Nerdist, Geek & Sundry, and Frederator's Cartoon Hangover. [4] On September 29, 2016, Funimation, Adam Savage's Tested, RiffTrax, CollegeHumor, Machinima, Ginx TV, Shudder, and Mondo Media were announced as new partners. [5] VRV would officially launch on November 14, 2016. [6]

On August 9, 2017, the VRV Select channel was launched, featuring content from other sources. It was also announced that Machinima, Ginx, and Rifftrax were being dropped from the service. [7] On the same day as VRV Select's announcement, Seeso announced via its Facebook page that it would be shutting down by the end of 2017. [8] Though RiffTrax, Machinima and Seeso's channels were dropped, some of their content, including Seeso's The Cyanide & Happiness Show , HarmonQuest , Hidden America with Jonah Ray , and My Brother, My Brother and Me would migrate to VRV Select. [9]

On November 21, 2017, CuriosityStream and Mubi joined VRV. [10]

On December 12, 2017, DramaFever joined VRV. [11]

On May 3, 2018, it was announced that Tested was being dropped, with its content moving to VRV Select. [12]

On August 28, 2018, VRV launched NickSplat, named after the TeenNick programming block, featuring classic Nickelodeon series from the 1990s and early 2000s. [13]

On October 12, 2018, Shout! Factory's content, such as Mystery Science Theater 3000 and ReBoot , were made available to watch on VRV Select. [14]

On October 18, 2018, Funimation announced that they would be leaving VRV, as their partnership with Crunchyroll ended, and all of their titles would disappear on November 9, 2018. On that same day, VRV announced that HIDIVE would be joining the service to replace Funimation. [15]

On November 1, 2018, HIDIVE was launched on VRV and it was announced that Boomerang would be joining the service on November 13, 2018. [16]

On November 7, 2018, Season 1 of TBS' Final Space was made available to watch on VRV Select. [17] On the same day, Otter Media announced Mike Tyson Mysteries and Jabberjaw were also going to be added to VRV in 2018. [18] [19]

On August 9, 2021, Crunchyroll was acquired by Sony-owned Funimation, making Sony the new owner of VRV. [20] [21]

On September 8, 2021, HIDIVE announced that it would be leaving VRV on September 30, 2021. [22] On December 13, 2021, Rooster Teeth left VRV. [23] Cartoon Hangover was also removed at the same time. [24]

On March 1, 2022, it was announced that VRV would be merged into Crunchyroll itself, alongside Funimation and Wakanim. [25] VRV ceased operations on April 29, 2023. [2] [3]

Channels

Original programming

Series

TitleGenrePremiereSeasons/episodesStatus
Shadowstone Park [lower-alpha 1] Animation December 15, 20171 season, 3 episodesEnded
Slug RiotAnimationJanuary 5, 20181 season, 5 episodesEnded
(not) Hero [lower-alpha 1] Animated comedy/Adventure February 9, 20181 season, 3 episodesEnded
Paradigms: How We Know What We Know Science documentary March 2, 20181 season, 1 episodesEnded
Chris P. Duck Animated comedy/Slice of life 1 season, 6 episodesEnded
Gary and His Demons [lower-alpha 2] Adult animation/Comedy April 15, 20181 season, 16 episodesMoved to Prime Video (internationally) and Freevee (United States) [26]
Daddy and the Big Boy [lower-alpha 2] Adult animation/Comedy October 16, 20181 season, 13 episodesEnded
Allen's Pole Adult animation/adventure 1 season, 4 episodesEnded
Brogan: Master of Castles [lower-alpha 2] Adult animation/Comedy March 26, 20191 season, 6 episodesEnded
Live From WZRD Talk show March 31, 20191 season, 8 episodesEnded
Bigfoot [lower-alpha 2] Adult animation/Comedy September 29, 20191 season, 8 episodesEnded
Epithet Erased [lower-alpha 3] Animated comedy/adventure November 8, 20191 season, 7 episodesEnded

Continuations

TitleGenrePrevious networkPremiereSeasons/episodesStatus
HarmonQuest (seasons 2–3) Adult animation/Live improvisation Seeso September 15, 20172 seasons, 20 episodesEnded
Deep Space 69 (season 4) Adult animation/Comedy YouTube December 22, 20171 season, 8 episodesEnded
Bravest Warriors (season 3-4) Animated comedy/Science fiction YouTube December 25, 20172 seasons, 58 episodesEnded
Turbo Fantasy (season 2) Adult animation/Comedy YouTube August 27, 20181 season, 3 episodesEnded
The Cyanide & Happiness Show (season 4) Adult animation/Comedy Seeso September 18, 20191 season, 10 episodesEnded

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Was available through Cartoon Hangover Select.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Was available through Mondo's VRV channel.
  3. ↑ Episodes were uploaded to YouTube two weeks after they premiered on VRV.

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References

  1. ↑ Orsini, Lauren (January 19, 2017). "Streaming App VRV Wants To Be Netflix For Geeks". Forbes . Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 4, 2023). "VRV Streaming Service Bundle Merges with Crunchyroll". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "MAKE THIS GOODBYE MORE OF A SEE YOU SOON". VRV. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  4. ↑ Baumgartner, Jeff (June 14, 2016). "Ellation's 'VRV' Platform Sets Sights on SVOD Surge". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Ellation Announces Eight New Channel Partners for VRV, a Video Platform Built for Fans". Marketwired. September 29, 2016. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  6. ↑ Romano, Aja (November 17, 2016). "New streaming app VRV aims to unite the best of the geek internet under one roof". Vox. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  7. ↑ Baumgartner, Jeff (August 9, 2017). "VRV Tunes In New Curated OTT Channel". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  8. ↑ Ha, Anthony (August 9, 2017). "NBCUniversal is shutting down Seeso, its streaming service for comedy fans". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  9. ↑ Petski, Denise (August 9, 2017). "Seeso Makes It Official: Will Shut Down "Later This Year"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  10. ↑ Trumbore, Dave (November 21, 2017). "VRV to Add MUBI and CuriosityStream, Along with Offline Viewing". Collider . Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ Baumgartner, Jeff (December 12, 2017). "VRV Adds DramaFever to SVOD Lineup". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  12. ↑ Yasushi, Matt (May 4, 2018). "Tested Changes on VRV". VRV. Archived from the original on September 1, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Nickelodeon and VRV Launch NickSplat SVOD Channel". Animation World Network. August 28, 2018. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  14. ↑ VRV [@WatchVRV] (October 12, 2018). "A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS AT @ShoutFactory FOR ALL THIS AND MORE!" (Tweet). Retrieved October 12, 2018– via Twitter.
  15. ↑ Ressler, Karen (October 18, 2018). "Funimation, Crunchyroll End Content-Sharing Partnership (Update)". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  16. ↑ Bouma, Luke (November 1, 2018). "VRV Adds Classic Cartoons Thanks to a Partnership With Boomerang". Cord Cutters News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  17. ↑ Trumbore, Dave (November 7, 2018). "'Final Space' Season 1 Now Available to Stream Exclusively on VRV". Collider. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  18. ↑ Milligan, Mercedes (November 7, 2018). "VRV Adds 'Final Space,' 'Mike Tyson Mysteries,' 'Jabberjaw' from WarnerMedia". Animation Magazine . Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Conan O'Brien's 'Final Space' Finds Exclusive SVOD Home on VRV". Animation World Network . November 7, 2018. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  20. ↑ Mateo, Alex (August 9, 2021). "Sony's Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  21. ↑ Mateo, Alex (August 13, 2021). "Crunchyroll Confirms VRV as Part of Sony Following Acquisition". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  22. ↑ "WHAT DOES HIDIVE'S VRV EXIT MEAN FOR YOU? START WITH OUR FAQ". HIDIVE. September 8, 2021. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  23. ↑ Nick N. (December 13, 2021). "What is happening to Rooster Teeth". VRV. Archived from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  24. ↑ Nick N. (December 13, 2021). "What is happening to Cartoon Hangover?". VRV. Archived from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Funimation Content Moving to Crunchyroll for World's Largest Anime Library". Crunchyroll . March 1, 2022. Archived from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  26. ↑ Layton, Mark (April 13, 2022). "Amazon expands Canadian originals, with 'Gary And His Demons' revival & Tragically Hip docuseries". Television Business International. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
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