HIDIVE Announces Select Shutdown Outside of North America (Update)

HIDIVE has become a big player in the anime streaming world, but it seems that the platform will go dark in some countries.

By Evan Valentine

Anime is continuing to be a hot ticket item in the world of entertainment. While streaming services such as Netflix, MAX, Amazon Prime, and more are taking the opportunity to create their own anime exclusives, there aren't nearly as many platforms that focus only on anime. While Crunchyroll has made itself the premiere streaming service for anime, platforms like HIDIVE are attempting to give the behemoth some competition. Unfortunately, it seems that HIDIVE is looking to stop its service in a number of countries next month.

HIDIVE first launched in 2017, offering anime fans some exclusive anime series that couldn't be found elsewhere. The platform has seen some serious success with the likes of Oshi no Ko, The Eminence in Shadow, and Call of The Night to name a few. Unfortunately, subscribers recently took notice of a message from the platform that the service would only be made available in the United States, Canada, Ireland, The United Kingdom, and Australia. If you don't live in one of these countries, you'll be out of luck on December 31st.

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(Photo: AMC)

HIDIVE's Statement

In a newly released statement, the streaming service addressed the issue and stated that HIDIVE will be pulling back its service from a number of countries outside of the United States, "We are constantly evaluating the HIDIVE offering and our area of operation and unfortunately, the service will no longer be available in certain areas outside of North America, as of 12/14/2023. Going forward, we will endeavor to make our content available to you via local platforms when possible. Please note that you will have full access to our content library on our website www.hidive.com through 12/31/2023. We sincerely appreciate your business and apologize for the inconvenience."

HIDIVE was a part of Sentai Filmworks initially, with both being purchased by AMC Networks in 2022. Earlier this year, HIDIVE began a partnership with Japan's Mainichi Broadcasting System which netted the service a number of upcoming anime exclusives. In recent days, the streaming service has still been announcing new anime exclusives for its service, so it has yet to be seen how this decision will effect the service. 

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Update: AMC Networks has released an official statement following the recent news, "In light of the strong demand for anime content around the world, we are constantly evaluating the HIDIVE business and are strategically focusing our operations on the fast-growing global markets that represent approximately 98 percent of our current customer base. This move will unfortunately result in the disruption of service for some customers outside of our major markets. We are working directly with those customers to manage through this transition."

Will you be affected by the upcoming changes to HIDIVE? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the streaming wars. 

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