For some, movie and TV show filtering is the white whale of the family entertainment business—an elusive tool that gives viewers the ability to watch otherwise good movies without the problematic content. VidAngel, a relatively new player in the game of entertainment filtering technology, is trying to buck the trend of fad filtering services that quickly fizzle.
It launched a few years ago and really began gaining momentum in 2016. Its popularity was fueled by its reasonable pricing structure and the way it allowed users to stream the latest from Hollywood without running to Redbox or paying a premium to Amazon or iTunes. They managed to do that by purchasing physical copies of movies and then selling, buying back, and reselling those physical copies to customers and allowing those buyers/customers to stream a digital version of their physical DVD.
But there were—and are—questions about the service’s legality, VidAngel has been locked in a court battle with a cadre of Hollywood’s most prominent players since late 2016, and a judge issued an order for VidAngel to stop operating while the court case continued.
But as that legal case hangs in limbo, VidAngel pivoted towards a new filtering frontier: your Netflix and Amazon Instant Video queue.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how their new Netflix and Amazon Prime filtering service works in real life.
Time will tell whether this change in strategy pays off for VidAngel, and they have yet to secure official deals with Netflix and Amazon. “Their contracts don’t allow them to officially sanction what we’re doing,” VidAngel CEO Neal Harmon told Variety. And for now, VidAngel won’t be offering filtered content from any studio its involved in litigation with.
In the meantime, though, what do you think of VidAngel’s new service? Does it sound like something you and/or your family are interested in checking out? What kinds of questions does this raise? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
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