VidAngel — status

VidAngel.com is an American streaming video company that allows users to filter content from various streaming services. Its business model is based on a subscription service, where customers pay a monthly fee to use its customizable filtering technology. The company's unique value proposition is enabling viewers to skip or mute objectionable content such as profanity, nudity, sexual situations, and graphic violence from movies and TV shows they already subscribe to on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+. The history of VidAngel is marked by significant legal challenges. Its initial business model involved selling and repurchasing physical DVDs and Blu-rays for a small fee, which led to a protracted legal battle with major Hollywood studios like Disney and Warner Bros. The studios argued that this business model constituted unauthorized streaming and copyright infringement. After a federal court injunction and a subsequent bankruptcy filing, VidAngel ultimately pivoted its model. It settled the lawsuits and relaunched as a filtering service that works directly with a user's existing streaming subscriptions, rather than by selling or renting discs. VidAngel's current model operates by linking with a user's subscribed streaming services and applying a layer of customizable filters to the content. Users can set filters for entire categories of content, like profanity, or create specific filters for individual scenes or words. In addition to its filtering service, VidAngel has also partnered with Angel Studios, a crowdfunded content platform, to offer a selection of family-friendly and faith-based original content. This dual business model provides both a technological solution for filtering content and access to a curated library of clean entertainment.