11 January 2004; 20 years ago (11 January 2004) 1 April 2020; 4 years ago (1 April 2020)(Vietnam, relaunch) 1 October 2021; 2 years ago (2021-10-01)(Unifi TV feed, Malaysia, relaunch) 1 May 2023; 12 months ago (2023-05-01)(Tonton, Malaysia)
Closed
5 July 2013; 10 years ago (5 July 2013)(Vietnam, at Sony Pictures) 16 March 2021; 3 years ago (16 March 2021)(Laos) 1 January 2022; 2 years ago (1 January 2022)(Brunei and Astro Malaysia)
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 broadcastsJapanese language programming, including same-day anime simulcasts, and anime-related programming, through English-language feeds in Southeast Asia (excluding Brunei), South and East Asia.
However, as the Internet was worried that Animax would be going out of operation due to most streaming platforms (such as Crunchyroll, Netflix and Bilibili) buying out the rights to air the latest anime series, KC Global Media later declared that their Animax linear channel will continue to operate as usual.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6][7]
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.[8] It also later incorporated an English audio dub feed.[8]
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.[9]
On July 5, 2013, Animax was forced to close down in Vietnam due to failure to meet Decision No. 20/2011/QD-TTG on Regulations on management of pay television activities issued by the Prime Minister.[10] 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.[11]
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.[12]
Unifi TV started rebroadcasting Animax on 1 June 2017 along with Sony Channel.[13][14] 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.[15][16]
On May 1, 2023, Animax relaunched in Malaysia via tonton alongside its sister channel GEM.
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.[17][18] Animax is available on Amazon Prime Video along with GEM.[19] Animax is also available on Samsung TV Plus on 28 December 2023,[20] and Tata Play on 8 February 2024.[21]
