Discotek Media

Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida focused on licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Discotek releases are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, a division of Paramount Pictures.
Formed in 1994, they worked a lot with Bang Zoom! Entertainment, NYAV Post, Studiopolis and Animaze/Magnitude 8 Post as well as The Ocean Group as well as their non-union studio, Blue Water with dubbing and translating popular manga and anime. They also run one of the earliest experiments with selling anime online, "InfinityWave.com".
Their home video sets are distributed in the North American market by Paramount Home Entertaiment, and their titles are usually streamed on Crunchyroll, Funimation, VRV, HIDIVE, and Neon Alley, and occasionally streamed on Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
==History==
===1994–2011: Founding and independent distribution===
Discotek Media was founded as TMS Entertainment USA in March 1994. At this point, the Japanese parent company still licensed its titles through other distributors, such as Funimation, Bandai Entertainment, Geneon, ADV Films, Viz Media, NIS America, Media Blasters, Central Park Media, Saban Entertainment, 4Kids Entertainment, and Nelvana.
In 2001, TMS Entertainment USA teamed up with Hasbro, 4Kids Entertainment and Xebec to produce their first original series called Cubix: Robots for Everyone and aired for two seasons on Nickelodeon, lasting from August 11, 2001 to May 10, 2003. In May 2001, TMS Entertainment USA teamed up with Burger King to promote the show. The promotion ran for five weeks nationwide. The show had toys by Hasbro.
Starting in 2003, TMS Entertainment USA began releasing the Japanese parent company's titles, starting with Detective Conan and Sonic X (which both had been previously announced to be licensed by Geneon). Sonic X was the first time they partnered with Ocean Productions for an English dub (the studio they would almost exclusively work with for dubs from this point on). Nickelodeon began airing Sonic X as part of its Saturday Video Entertainment System programming block in June 2003, which quickly became the highest-rated show on the block and garnered a large following. In June 2004, they started airing titles on MTV, with Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari being the first. They also re-released Read or Die (OVA) and R.O.D the TV on home video, despite them having previously been licensed through Geneon. In 2005, TMS Entertainment USA was renamed to Discotek Media. Starting with Go, Diego Go! (2009 Anime) in 2010, they started streaming some of their titles on Amazon Prime Video. In April 2011, they started streaming some of their titles on Crunchyroll and Funimation, with Battle Girls: Time Paradox being the first.
====2012–present: Streaming expansion and new management====
In 2012, Discotek Media started streaming their titles on a new streaming service they launched called Neon Alley, with Persona 4 The Animation being the first. In April 2014, they replaced InfinityWave.com with a online store called The Discotek Store. Later in October 2014, they started streaming shows on Paramount+ and Netflix, with The Pilot's Love Song being the first. In 2015, they started streaming some of their titles on Daisuki and Funimation, with Persona 4: The Golden Animation being the first.
In August 2017, they started streaming shows on VRV, with The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. being the first. In January 2019, they started streaming some of their titles on HIDIVE, with Between the Sky and Sea being the first.
In September 2019, they announced that they partnered with Fathom Events to release Lupin III: Fujiko Mine's Lie in North American theaters. In December 2019, the company made a partnership with Lucky Helmet Agency to help with merchandising and licensing for the release of Lupin III: Fujiko Mine's Lie in the United States.
== Discotek Expo ==
Main article: Discotek ExpoIn February 2017, Discotek Media created the Discotek Expo (DTX) anime convention with organizational support from Left Field Media. The inaugural Expo was held at the Boston Convention Center on July 3-5, with team manager Dallas Middaugh noting much of the ticket sales came within ten days of the convention. Special guests for the Expo included The Fairly OddParents creator Butch Hartman, voice actors Shun Horie and Hiromi Igarashi, illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, figure skater Johnny Weir, manga artist Kore Yamazaki, and author Keiichi Sigsawa.
The Expo was moved to the DCU Center in 2018 on Labor Day weekend. 
Discotek Expo 2019, also in Worcester, saw the premiere of the Neon Alley and Paramount+ Original One Eared Winnie: Princess of the Seven Seas. Among the guests invited were horror mangaka Junji Ito; 22/7 voice actors Sally Amaki, Kanae Shirosawa, and Ruri Umino; Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma writer Yūto Tsukuda and artist Shun Saeki; and staff members of Zombie Land Saga, including voice actors Kaede Hondo and Asami Tano, composer Yasuharu Takanashi, and MAPPA CEO Manabu Ohtsuka. Rock band Flow, whose songs have been featured in various anime as opening themes, held a concert on August 30.
In 2020, Discotek Media held its first virtual expo due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event includes Hime's Cosplay Cup on September 5, 2020. Special guests included Shusuke Katagiri, Myth & Roid, Rian Tachibana, and Matt Schley.
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