Animax is the

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel in Asia owned by KC Global Media Asia which

broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

anime and Simulcast anime, anime programming through English-language feeds in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

(formerly including

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

(except India), and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. It is the first television channel in Asia dedicated to anime, and was initially launched in Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia in January 2004,
Sony Pictures Entertainment to Launch Animax Asia
', Press Release, SPE, 29 October 2003, Anime News Network. Animax cooperate the distributors to acquire content popular anime series such as

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of anime. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and European films ...

Medialink Medialink Group Limited is a content distributor and licensor based in Kowloon, Hong Kong specializing in the distribution of Japanese anime and brand licensing. Its offices are located at Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Registered from Hong Kong ...

, Mighty Media and

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

. The channel was formerly owned by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

, but was sold to KC Global Media Entertainment on January 1, 2020.

History

On December 17, 2015, Animax Asia announced that it will begin broadcasting in high definition ( HD), with high definition channel will be a simulcast with its

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

( SD) channel, carrying the same content.

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+ Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the ...

'', ''

Trinity Blood is a series of Japanese light novels written by Sunao Yoshida with illustrations by Thores Shibamoto and originally serialized in ''The Sneaker''. Set 900 years after an apocalyptic war between humans and vampires, the series focuses on the ...

'' and ''

Mushishi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Afternoon Season Zōkan'' from 1999 to 2002, and in ''Monthly Afternoon'' from December 2002 to August 20 ...

''. After the TV premiere of ''

Gurren Lagann ''Gurren Lagann'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese mecha anime, mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directe ...

'', Animax's TV ratings recorded a huge increase and moved 80% more TRP than its closest competitor,

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

Hong Kong.

Southeast Asia

A week after its launch in Hong Kong, Animax was launched in

on 19 January 2004, initially featuring its anime programming exclusively in the original

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

audio with English subtitling, becoming the company's first English language network. It also later incorporated an English audio dub feed. Programming blocks seen include "''Ani-Chan''", which is aired on weekdays at 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm (featuring shows such as ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'', ''

Danball Senki , or simply ''LBX'', is a series of action role-playing video games created by Level-5, involving small plastic model robots known as LBXs (standing for "Little Battler eXperience") that fight on dioramas made out of cardboard, ...

'' (a.k.a. ''Little Battlers eXperience'') and ''

Tsubasa Chronicle is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably '' xxxHolic''. The plot follows how Sakura, the prince ...

''); "''Animania''", which is aired on weekdays from 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm (featuring the ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'' franchise and ''

Law of Ueki is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from July 2001 to October 2004, with Its chapters collected in sixteen ''tankōbo ...

''); "''Mega Zone''", its

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

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. On July 5, 2013, Animax was forced to close down in Vietnam due to government content restrictions, but after 7 years, on 1 April 2020, it was relaunched on VTVCab.

Malaysia

Astro Astro may refer to: Entertainment and media * Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band * Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40 * Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band * Astro (Japanese band), ...

had been broadcasting the channel since 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.

Unifi TV Unifi TV (stylized as unifi tv, formerly known as HyppTV prior to January 2018) is an IPTV service operated by Telekom Malaysia (TM). It was launched in 2010 as part of TM's bundled Triple-play service offering of VoIP Telephone, Internet and ...

has rebroadcast Animax since 1 June 2017 along with Sony Channel. They initially ceased its transmission of the channel on 1 July 2020, but would resume on 1 October 2021 along with introduction of

AXN AXN is a pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television, which was first launched in September 1997 in Asia. Local versions have since been launched in several parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Funded th ...

GEM A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

, two other channels owned by KC Global Media Asia.

References

External links