FunimationNow streaming service to launch in the UK this February

Last year saw North American distributor Funimation Entertainment made big inroads into the anime streaming and simulcast market, snapping up lots of hot titles and putting a lot of effort into launching their "broadcast dubs" service to bring brand-new series to viewers in an English dubbed format as quickly as humanly possible.

Of course, UK viewers have been left largely watching these developments from the sidelines, but recent murmerings of FUNimation entering the UK streaming market have now finally come to pass as the company unveils their all-new service, branded FunimationNow.

Most notably, when the service launches in February 2016 it will be available right here in the UK, where we assume it will offer up simulcasts and broadcast dubs of all of the series to which the company has UK streaming rights.

Here's some of the key points from the website announcing the pending launch of the service:

Get ready anime fans, 2016 is going to be a big year!

First things first, February will mark the debut of FunimationNow, our all-new anime streaming service, with completely redesigned mobile apps. We'll still be bringing you all the subtitled and English-dubbed anime you love, completely ad-free—PLUS, a sleek new design supported by a first-class user experience. But that's not all, throughout the year we'll continue introducing a bunch of cool new features as we prepare for the May launch of a reimagined website experience that will revolutionize the way fans discover, watch, share, and connect with anime.

A quick look at what's coming in 2016.

February:
All-new mobile apps
Completely redesigned iOS, Android, and Kindle apps
Brand new Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV apps
A new Windows 10 Universal app
Airplay and Chromecast features, allowing you to watch on your TV via your mobile devices
Launch of FunimationNow in the UK

May:
Completely new, immersive website experience and console app updates
Fully responsive website will allow you to experience our site on mobile phones and tablets easily
Advance search allows you to conveniently find and filter shows
Console app updates for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Roku
Much more to come!

You can read more about what the service will offer on the FunimationNow web site.

EDIT: The FunimationNow web site is curently locked down so that only US and Canadian users can view it. Yes, that's right, UK users are locked out of the company's announcement of a UK streaming service! You can, however, also now find the news on the Funimation Blog.