Ellation Signs New Content Deals for VRV Streaming Service

Otter Media-backed Ellation is launching VRV, a new streaming service with videos from channels that include the newly signed CollegeHumor, and others, along with already-signed Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth and Cartoon Hangover. Combined, all these channels boast more than one million paying subscribers and tens of millions of viewers. VRV, which hasn’t yet announced pricing, will debut later this year on the Xbox One, with other platforms to follow. The move is in line with Otter Media’s long-time interest in Web video.

Multichannel News reports that, in addition to CollegeHumor, VRV has just signed Funimation, Tested, RiffTrax, Machinima, GINX eSports TV, and Shudder. In addition, MONDO, “a digital distributor of high-quality animation,” will unveil “MONDO Premium,” as an “SVOD exclusive on VRV in the U.S.”

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“We have been working to bring as many partner companies to VRV as possible so that our passionate fans can enjoy the most comprehensive collection of content developed specifically for them,” said VRV general manager Mike Aragon, who adds that, “at launch, we will have over a dozen channels on the platform.”

Bloomberg reports that Ellation chief executive Tom Pickett says the brands will give the service “critical mass.” VRV is constructed as a niche destination, with a focus on “fans with overlapping interests like anime, video games and caustic humor.” Viewing options include some free videos, subscription-based individual channels and bundles.

Otter Media — which was formed by AT&T and Peter Chernin, “after unsuccessfully trying to buy Hulu in 2013” — also acquired a majority stake in Fullscreen, a Web video company that now has “a paid service targeted at millennials.” AT&T is the largest U.S. pay TV service, with 25.3 million subscribers following its purchase of DirecTV last year.

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