18 Facts About VidAngel

VidAngel uses customizable filters to automatically cut out scenes or sounds which the viewer does not want to see or hear.

VidAngel was launched in 2014 by the Harmon Brothers in Utah.

VidAngel used equity crowdfunding to fund its growth, raising $10 million from customer-investors.

VidAngel fought the lawsuit for several years, asserting its method was legal under the Family Movie Act.

VidAngel 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.

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In 2020, VidAngel reached a settlement with the four studios, agreeing to pay $9.

The settlement prohibits VidAngel from streaming content from the four studios which sued it, but it can stream content from other studios.

VidAngel was founded in 2013 and launched in 2014 by the Harmon brothers in Provo, Utah as a startup company with six employees.

VidAngel cited the Family Movie Act of 2005 as legally protecting customers' right to use their service to filter films.

VidAngel's public statements included the claim that FMA protects filtered streaming as long as the movie is an authorized copy watched in the privacy of the home, and no permanent filtered copy is created.

Studios claimed that VidAngel then bought licensed discs from retail stores, made copies, and employed a method of "streaming from its own 'master' copies of works that VidAngel has created on its own servers rather than layering its filters over an authorized stream".

The court granted Disney's motion for a preliminary injunction, declaring that VidAngel had violated copyright laws by circumventing copyright protection technology on DVDs and by hosting the streamed content on VidAngel's computer servers without appropriate licensing and permission from copyright holders.

VidAngel customers are required to have a separate Netflix or Amazon subscription in addition to a VidAngel subscription.

In October 2017, VidAngel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a legal strategy to protect the company against the ongoing lawsuit and allow it to reorganize its business around its new streaming service.

Some customers whose buy-back credits for DVD purchases were included in the bankruptcy among VidAngel's assets were prevented from cashing out these refunds while the bankruptcy was pending.

VidAngel emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 and has continued to use the streaming model to filter content through Netflix, Amazon Prime, and later, Apple TV+.

In 2021, VidAngel was split into two companies: the filtering business, now legally called VidAngel Entertainment, and Angel Studios, a crowdfunded content platform producing family-friendly and faith-based entertainment.

In 2022, VidAngel relaunched with a new ad campaign developed by Harmon Brothers.