NEW YORK—AMC Networks Inc. has completed the acquisition of Houston-based Sentai Holdings, LLC (“Sentai”), a major global supplier of anime content and official anime merchandise, that operates the anime-focused HIDIVE direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal fits in with AMC’s push to expand its offering of targeted streaming services, which now includes Sentai’s HIDIVE streaming service, AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and ALLBLK.
AMC has forecast that its targeted streaming portfolio will have exceeded nine million paid subscribers by year-end 2021, with 20-25 million paid subscribers by 2025.
It also reflects growing interest in the anime sector, with Sony, and Cinedigm acquiring anime players in 2021.
“With a seasoned team, strong content and direct-to-consumer offerings for fans around the world, Sentai is a key global player in anime,” said AMC Networks interim CEO Matt Blank. “This acquisition builds on AMC Networks’ already strong IP and franchises, and furthers our targeted streaming strategy of super-serving passionate audiences with content depth, curation and community. With the addition of Sentai, we see an even greater opportunity to build on AMC Networks’ position as the global leader in targeted streaming, as we continue to grow a sustainable and long-term profitable streaming business that will be transformational for our company.”
John Ledford, Sentai’s Founder stated, “We are thrilled by AMC Networks’ acquisition and are excited to be a part of their growth strategy. This acquisition will not change Sentai’s mission to deliver the most exciting anime content to audiences around the world — it will expand it greatly and will give our content businesses more distribution, more partnerships, more scale and more reach. I could not be more pleased.”
Sentai’s executive management team of Ledford, Griffin Vance, and Paul Clinkscales, will continue on in senior roles.
