Users of HIDIVE in many countries outside of North America just received a notice informing them that HIDIVE service will be canceled on 31st December 2023, with billing stopping on the 14th of December. The HIDIVE support website also confirms this with the following announcement:
We are constantly evaluating the HIDIVE offering and our area of operation and unfortunately, the service will no longer be available in certain areas outside of North America, as of 12/14/2023. Going forward, we will endeavor to make our content available to you via local platforms when possible. Please note that you will have full access to our content library on our website www.hidive.com through 12/31/2023. We sincerely appreciate your business and apologize for the inconvenience.
Users are reporting receiving a similar email on Reddit and X/Twitter, in France, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, and more. Latin American and Mexican users are also affected. As one HIDIVE user shared in a comment in their subreddit, customer support revealed that the announcement about the service being canceled is for most non-English speaking countries starting on 12/14/2023. After that date, HIDIVE services will be available only in the following countries: the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia. At the time of writing, HIDIVE did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
HIDIVE streaming services launched in 2017, after the discontinuation of Anime Network Online. They also offer some free content, with subscription options. HIDIVE has roots in the anime community. In 2019, they partnered with the popular anime database MAL, and a year later with Anime-Planet. They were acquired by AMC Networks in 2022. In 2023, they streamed popular titles such as Oshi No Ko and Insomniacs After School.
UPDATE: HIDIVE replied to Anime Corner’s request for details regarding their service on November 17. Full statement below:
In light of the strong demand for anime content around the world, we are constantly evaluating the HIDIVE business and are strategically focusing our operations on the fast-growing global markets that represent approximately 98 percent of our current customer base. This move will unfortunately result in the disruption of service for some customers outside of our major markets. We are working directly with those customers to manage through this transition.