Per the Hollywood Reporter, “VidAngel isn’t backing down after a court ordered it to shutter its family-friendly filtering services — instead, the company has revamped its operations to circumvent issues raised in its legal fight with three major Hollywood studios. Its new $7.99 per month [app-based] service piggybacks on users’ streaming accounts.”
VidAngel is a technology that allows users to filter out language, nudity, and violence. “VidAngel’s philosophy is very libertarian,” says CEO Neal Harmon. “Let directors create what they want, and let viewers watch how they want in their own home. That kind of philosophy respects the views of both parties.” In a separate article on VidAngel in the Herald Extra, Harmon likewise mentioned that the company’s founders, including himself, are libertarian-leaning. “The founders of VidAngel are entrepreneurs, and slightly Libertarian-leaning to say the least. We feel that free-market solutions, you know, when you allow the market to speak back and forth, then things get solved a lot quicker than trying to have one particular party or moral authority decide what’s right and what’s wrong.”
VidAngel has also invested in original content. Tim Timmerman, Hope of America features the story of high-school slacker elected class president, and his typical high school adventures. The film has been well received (currently a 90% audience approval in Rotten Tomatoes).