Flare+

Flare+ is an American streaming service that launched in North America on September 27th, 2020.

History
On August 22nd, 2019, Aura Television Productions unveiled the new streaming service as a replacement to both their NickFamily Stream app and their expiring Netflix deal. Aura staff stated that "rather than going to Hulu, we've decided to start our own service that would launch when the Netflix deal ends". The service would initially only be available in the United States and Canada, but in May 2020 Aura announced that it may expand to other territories throughout the rest of 2020 and 2021. On July 17th, 2020, Aura announced that Flare+ would launch in the UK and Ireland in November 2020.

The first original program ordered for the service was Bracelet Buddies, co-produced with Teletoon.

On August 24th, 2019, Aura Television Productions stated that Flare+ will not supersede Aura and AuraAnime's deal with Bantaview. As such, prior to Bantaview being shut down and merged into Paramount+ in 2022, it continued to offer select titles from Aura.

In February 2020, it was confirmed that Flare+ has no plans to add Jewelpet or its sequels to the service, due to the series' Canadian streaming rights being written-off a month prior. However, it was eventually revealed that this only applies to the first seven seasons, Sweets Dance Princess, Attack Chance!?, and Attack Travel!; Jewelpet Academy would be added to the service on September 17th, 2022 alongside Jewelpet: Sparkle! and Jewelpet Story in certain countries only (such as Academy only being available in the United States, France, and Germany with a streaming release in the UK and Ireland later on plus Story only streaming in the United States).

In March 2020, Flare+ announced its first set of backlog series that would stream on the service. These include Time Force, Chloe, Webkinz: The Animated Series, Wunschpunsch, and Miss XV.

Open alpha testing began in April 2020 when NickFamily Stream shut down. The beta phase began in June 2020, 3 months before launch.

In November 2020, Flare+ announced that it had acquired streaming rights to the Monster Coins dub (including Reunion and Finale) in North America and the UK/Ireland.

On November 29th, 2020, the UK branch of Flare+ acquired streaming rights to the Go! Tennia Queen anime in the UK and Ireland. Also on that date, Flare+ announced it would launch in France in January 2021, while Aura France would be shut down. Flare+ launched in Germany during the summer of 2021.

In October 2021, it was reported that Flare+ inked a deal to be the exclusive carrier of the AuraAnime Awards beginning in 2022; the 2021 awards would thus be the final AuraAnime Awards to air on television (via AuraNightfall) in the United States. Aura cut funding for the awards on September 3rd, 2022, making the 2022 event the final one, and thus the only one to stream on Flare+.

On March 11th, 2022, it was announced that Flare+ (and the rest of Aura) would suspend its operations in Russia.

On April 7th, 2022, Flare+ announced its expansion into India via the localization AuraDhaara, set for a November 2022 launch. However, all plans related to AuraDhaara were scrapped following a wave of cutbacks across Aura following the King of Games controversy, and that Flare+ proper would be brought to India instead. Aura mentioned that they would write-off the AuraDhaara venture on their taxes.

On May 30th, 2022, it was announced that Aura's Latin American feed would shutter its linear TV operations across the region after July 31st, 2022, due to signing an exclusive carriage deal with Flare+ that would make it the first channel livestream outside of the United States.

A Flare+ app for the Nintendo Switch would launch on June 1st, 2022.

On September 28th, 2022, Flare+ announced its first ever wave of expiring titles, set to leave the service after September 30th, 2022. These titles include Chloe, Bracelet Buddies and Hollow Woods. Chloe and Hollow Woods would be re-added to the service in November 2022, while Bracelet Buddies was written-off as a loss on Aura's taxes. Following the former being re-added to the service, Flare+ and Nickelodeon Family hinted at a potential continuation for it without the involvement of YTV 2, depending on certain circumstances. Nickelodeon Family later specified that they can't directly confirm anything about a continuation or reboot at the moment due to various factors (getting Nelvana on board, getting a new series signed off on, etc.).

Programming
Main article: List of original programs distributed by Flare+ and List of Flare+ international distribution programming

Flare+ will offer almost the entirety of the Aura Television Productions catalog, including from NickFamily Studios, Jetix Cymru, and The CW Animation, by the end of 2025. Whether OverFlare series or AuraAnime Licensing series will be offered remains to be seen.

Anime programming
See also: TV Akihabara Friday Nights


 * Rage: Guts and Glory (will be available at launch; simulcast on Crunchyroll, FunimationNow, and HiDive)

Channels offered
Flare+ offered livestreams of the following channels (excluding NFCartoons) at launch. All channel livestreams on Flare+ were exclusive to the United States at launch, although Aura's Latin American feed re-launched as a livestream across its former linear broadcast area in August 2022, followed by its German feed following suit in October 2022. These feeds were available on NickFamily Stream until its 2020 shutdown.

US channels

 * Nickelodeon Family/AuraNightfall
 * Nicktoons Family (2020-22, removed upon shutdown)
 * Aura US
 * NFGaming (2020-21, removed upon shutdown)
 * AuraToons (2020-23; to be removed upon shutdown)
 * NFCartoons (since January 2022)

International channels

 * Disney XD Wales (Welsh audio w/ English subtitles) (removed during beta testing)
 * Aura Wales (Welsh audio w/ English subtitles) (2020-22, removed upon shutdown)
 * Cartoon Network Wales (Welsh audio w/ English subtitles) (2020-22, removed upon shutdown)
 * Aura Germany (German audio w/ English subtitles in the United States)
 * Aura France (French audio w/ English subtitles) (2020-21, removed upon shutdown)
 * Aura India (Hindi audio w/ English subtitles)
 * Aura Latin America (initially third party shows provided in Spanish w/ English subtitles; converted to Spanish w/ English subtitles in the United States effective August 1st, 2022)
 * Aura Oceania (only offered in Australia and New Zealand)

Aura Television Productions has stated that due to the complexity of the rights issues across Canada and the US, YTV 2 is ineligible to have a livestream launch in the US without being subject to blackouts (which would apply to series not distributed by Aura Television Productions in the US).

Trivia
TBA.