VidAngel

VidAngel is an American streaming video company that allows the user to skip objectionable content based on user preferences regarding profanity, nudity, sexual situations, and graphic violence. The company uses customizable filters to automatically cut out scenes or sounds which the viewer does not want to see or hear. The company was launched in 2014 by the Harmon Brothers in Utah. The company used equity crowdfunding to fund its growth, raising $10 million from customer-investors.

In 2016, it was sued by several major Hollywood studios who said the original method it used to filter objectionable content from movies, which involved decrypting DVDs and Blu-rays, violated copyright protections. VidAngel fought the lawsuit for several years, asserting its method was legal under the Family Movie Act. It developed a new model based on streaming whereby it filters a video stream from Netflix and Amazon. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 as a legal strategy to protect the company against the lawsuit and allow it to reorganize its business around the streaming service. It continued to operate during the bankruptcy process. In 2020, VidAngel reached a settlement with the four studios, agreeing to pay $9.9 million to the studios, and emerged from bankruptcy. The settlement prohibits VidAngel from streaming content from the four studios which sued it, but it can stream content from other studios. In 2022, VidAngel relaunched under new ownership.

Its current model is based entirely on streaming, filtering movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+. It also filters titles from other services which are available through Amazon, including Showtime, Starz, Paramount+, AMC+, BritBox, and PBS Masterpiece.