Owned by Olympusat Country United States Motto Be Reanimated | Slogan Be Reanimated Owner Olympusat | |
 | ||
Launched September 29, 2005
(as Funimation Channel)
December 31, 2015
(as Toku) Broadcast area United States
Latin America (in deployment) Formerly called Funimation Channel (2005–2015)
Branding licensed from Funimation Headquarters West Palm Beach, Florida, United States TV shows Witchblade, Princess Tutu, Ultraman Max, Ultraman 80, Shamanic Princess | ||
Toku is a 24-hour cable network owned by Olympusat which broadcasts anime series, OVAs, ONAs, anime films and live-action Asian films and series. Formerly known as Funimation Channel, it adopted its current name on December 31, 2015, after Funimation ended their partnership with Olympusat. As such, Toku has not aired any Funimation titles since January 1, 2016. Tristan Leostar is the content aggregator for the Toku network.
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The linear channel is available on AT&T U-verse, Frontier FiOS, Sjobergs Inc., IFiber Communications, OptiLink and Claro Puerto Rico; its HD feed was launched on September 27, 2010. The VOD service is available on Optimum, Xfinity, Vubiquity, Massilion, Hotwire Communications, Armstrong and FlixFling. The VOD service was previously available on Charter Communications.
As Funimation Channel
Funimation Channel started out as a syndicated block on Colours TV, one of OlympuSAT’s affiliate networks. Programs during this era were Dragon Ball, Negima!, Kodocha, The Slayers, Blue Gender, Kiddy Grade, Fruits Basket, Case Closed and Yu Yu Hakusho. The block was later discontinued in favor for a more successful expansion on digital cable, fiber optics and DBS systems
On May 1, 2008, Funimation Channel became a 24-hour English-dubbed anime digital cable network; the second of its kind in North America (following A.D. Vision's Anime Network). Olympusat was chosen as the exclusive distributor of Funimation Channel. The service originally was available to a few cities via UHF digital signals and was temporary as the channel was trying to gain a foothold in the already crowded digital cable landscape.
In May 2009, Funimation Channel continued its expansion on cable launching on Comcast's VOD platform and offering two services - Free On Demand and PPV On Demand. The PPV VOD offers viewers a chance to watch titles prior to their DVD release. Movies and packaged specials are available at $2.99 each while episodes are available at $.99 each.
As of September 27, 2010, a High Definition feed was launched alongside existing VOD services. On February 16, 2012, Verizon announced that it will drop Funimation Channel and Bridges TV from its Verizon FiOS service "on, or after March 15" due to "very low viewership". In response to reaction from Verizon FiOS TV customers, FiOS TV returned Funimation Channel via Video on Demand. Channel 262 remains on the FiOS system operated by Frontier Communications in some ex-Verizon territories. Cablevision's Optimum TV recently launched FUNimation Channel On Demand in the NY/NJ/CT Tri-State area. Adding this MSO increased FUNimation Channel's footprint to over 40 million households nationwide.
Funimation Channel's programming came from Funimation, Viz Media, Nozomi Entertainment and the now-defunct Central Park Media and Enoki Films USA.
As Toku
On December 8, 2015, it was reported that the channel would change its name to Toku on Thursday, December 31, 2015 and "will add more variety including highly-rated Asian movies in the Live Action, Grindhouse and Independent genres." It was subsequently announced, on December 15, 2015, that Funimation would end its partnership with Olympusat and relaunch Funimation Channel sometime in 2016.
On March 14, 2016, Olympusat announced a local version of Toku in Latin America, named Toku Español.
Toku's programming comes from Media Blasters and other anime and movie licensors.