The U.S. Justice Department has extended an anti-trust review into Sony’s proposed acquisition of anime streaming platform Crunchyroll reports The Information (via The Verge)
The move could delay the completion of the near $1.2 billion deal by as much as six months. In a worst-case scenario, it reportedly could derail it. Under the deal, Sony-owned Funimation aims to buy 100% of Crunchyroll operator Ellation Holdings owned by WarnerMedia.
At the time it was announced in December, it was also said the deal was subject to regulatory approvals. The current review is reportedly to see if it will give Japanese animation studios fewer options to distribute shows in the United States.
Crunchyroll has more than 1,000 titles and over 30,000 episodes, which it claims represents the world’s largest anime library. Should Funimation and Crunchyroll merge, it could also shake up relationships with other potential outlets that Crunchyroll has deals with like VRV, Toonami, VIZ Media and Webtoon.