{"id":54550,"date":"2025-12-03T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54550"},"modified":"2025-12-03T18:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:02:16","slug":"japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese video streaming service&nbsp;<strong>Rakuten TV<\/strong>&nbsp;has announced that it will stop selling \u201csingle purchase content\u201d as of December 25, 2025, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/0115765.com\/archives\/160499\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Otaku Soken<\/a>. That means users will still be able to rent shows and watch via subscriptions and livestreams, but buying and permanently owning your copy of a show will no longer be a thing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this in itself was disappointing news for users of the platform, another announcement by Rakuten TV has prompted backlash. The company will impose a viewing deadline on content already purchased, so people will only be able to watch the shows in their libraries until December next year. The announcement includes no mention of refunds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u3010\u91cd\u8981\u3011<br>\u300c\u8cfc\u5165\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4\u300d\u306e\u8ca9\u58f2\u304a\u3088\u3073\u8996\u8074\u7d42\u4e86\u306b\u95a2\u3059\u308b\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b<br><br>\u300cRakuten TV\uff08\u697d\u5929TV\uff09\u300d\u306b\u3066\u8ca9\u58f2\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u300c\u8cfc\u5165\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4\u300d\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u3001\u5927\u5207\u306a\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\u304c\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002<br>\u304a\u624b\u6570\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306e\u30ea\u30f3\u30af\u3088\u308a\u8a73\u7d30\u3092\u5fc5\u305a\u3054\u78ba\u8a8d\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u304a\u9858\u3044\u7533\u3057\u4e0a\u3052\u307e\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u25bc\u8a73\u7d30<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/clYx7pIPXS\">https:\/\/t.co\/clYx7pIPXS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ujNx4fuKsl\">pic.twitter.com\/ujNx4fuKsl<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Rakuten TV\u3008 \u697d\u5929TV \u3009\u516c\u5f0f (@rakutentv_japan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rakutentv_japan\/status\/1995327054955557323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 1, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Given that most consumers believed they would have permanent ownership over the content they were buying up until now, the platform has been on the receiving end of scalding criticism from Japanese users on X.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\"><em>\u201cDamn, I paid over 65 dollars\u00a0for the full series pack, but\u00a0they can just make it impossible to watch with one simple announcement? I get that it&#8217;s in the fine print of the contract, but it&#8217;s still unbelievable. That&#8217;s awful.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rakutentv_japan\/status\/1995327054955557323?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">via X<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\"><em>Isn\u2019t this ridiculous? It&#8217;s like buying a DVD only to be told you won&#8217;t be able to watch it starting next year. They should at least let us download and save the content we&#8217;ve purchased. I mean, we paid for the right to watch it forever! This is crazy!<\/em>\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ms_puff\/status\/1995340281294549380?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">via X<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rakuten TV\u2019s decision appears to be legally sound, as its terms of service <em>do<\/em> state that even when content is labeled as \u201cpurchased,\u201d it reserves the right to halt streaming or access under certain conditions. However, users of the platform are disappointed with the ethical side of things, calling on Rakuten to offer a better solution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incident has, unsurprisingly, prompted many to stress the importance of physical media when it comes to true ownership.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it&#8217;s phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":54555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it&#039;s phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it&#039;s phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-03T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1173\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"749\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it's phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it's phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-12-03T14:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1173,"height":749,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-12-03T14:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/"},"wordCount":358,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/","name":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-03T14:00:00+00:00","description":"Rakuten TV has been met with public outrage over the way it's phasing out single-purchase content on the platform.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251201-54550-header.jpg","width":1173,"height":749,"caption":"Rakuten TV"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-video-streaming-platform-abruptly-announces-viewing-deadline-for-anime-and-shows-users-have-already-purchased\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese video streaming platform abruptly announces \u201cviewing deadline\u201d for anime and shows users have already purchased as it pivots away from single-purchase content\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54556,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54550\/revisions\/54556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}