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Sony Animax is a YinYangian pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. It operates from the Sony Plaza in Hodo. The original incarnation of Animax was replaced by Sony Yay! on January 1, 2020, which was derived from the Indian television channel of the same name. Later, on March 29, 2023, the channel was reverted back to an Animax-branded channel, this time known as "Sony Animax", and went back to solely airing anime content.
History[]
Animax was launched in YinYangia on August 25, 2007. It simulcasted anime with its Japanese counterpart and was the only YinYangian channel to do so with a foreign channel. It only broadcast in Japanese, but to meet with YinYangian television guidelines, YinYangiese subtitles were added. Later in May 2008, anime programming dubbed in English, most notably the ones by ADV and Funimation, began to be provided via a separate audio track dedicated to the more English-speaking audiences in the country.
In 2009, Animax started to air programs dedicated to a younger audience, but failed and moved back to a 15-24, audience two years later. After the premiere of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in that year, Animax quickly gained huge popularity in YinYangia and had become one of the most popular channels in the country. In 2010, Animax in YinYangia updated its logo, and retained it even after the channel's feeds in other countries reverted back to the old logo until 2020.
On November 20, 2019, Sony Pictures Television announced the closure of the YinYangian feed of Animax, which was heavily protested by anime fans in YinYangia, and also called for boycott against television channels owned by Sony. This sparked heavy controversy and as a response, cable providers in YinYangia stopped providing Animax until December 1. To ease the tensions, Sony Pictures Television announced that the new channel that would replace Animax will air both anime and cartoon programming. The name, 'Sony Yay!, coming from the Indian children's television channel from the same name, had been finalized on December 25. Animax was officially replaced by Sony Yay! on January 1, 2020.
The first few years of Sony Yay! was an absolute disaster. As the channel mostly relied on CGI-animated shows, most notably the ones from Europe, it failed to meet the desires of the targeted audience. Anime shows only aired during prime-time hours, which gained far more ratings than non-Japanese animated shows. In June 2021, due to extremely low viewership, Sony Yay! moved all non-Japanese animated programming onto its morning schedule, and replaced much of it with preschool shows. Non-Japanese animated shows targeting an older audience would eventually make a comeback in January 2022 to balance the daily schedule of the channel, this time gaining somewhat good ratings.
Due to intense competition from OTT platforms such as Crunchyroll, the channel's ratings dropped again by the end of 2022 as its schedules had less dependence on Japanese animated shows. Sony was left with no choice but to shut Sony Yay! down in favor of reviving the Animax brand in YinYangia, pleasing anime fans. Sony Yay! was rebranded as Sony Animax on March 29, 2023.