In December, a federal judge ordered video filtering service VidAngel to shut down its operations due to alleged copyright violations. Based in Utah, VidAngel’s mission is to help faith-based audiences bypass offensive video content including nudity and profanity. While VidAngel appeals that ruling, the Utah-based company has launched a new subscription service to help viewers screen content on streaming services including Netflix, Amazon and HBO through Amazon Channels, reports Variety. Additional services to be added will be Hulu, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play and Showtime.

According to a promotional video on Facebook, the new service will cost $7.99, following a free month-long trial, and put a subscriber’s content all in one place. VidAngel will be available for Android, iOS, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon FireTV, Samsung SmartTV, Xbox, PS4, Wii and desktop.

To sign up for VidAngel, a subscriber must also subscribe to one of the major streaming services. Subscribers will also get unlimited access to VidAngel’s Dry Bar Comedy specials and other exclusive content. In VidAngel’s FAQs, the company says there will be hundreds of movies and TV shows available, but due to the pending lawsuit, the service will not include work by Disney, Lucas Films, Warner Bros. or 20^th Century Fox.

The new service launched on June 14, and so far, things aren’t going very well. After testing the new service for months, there was a problem with an Amazon connector that was down for maintenance, causing subscribers to be unable to use the services. To correct the problem, VidAngel issued an apology on June 17 and offered to extend free trial periods to start once the Amazon problem is resolved.

“We never dreamed we’d have more interest than before we were shut down.  We should have had more faith in our fans and prepared for more traffic, but we didn’t. These traffic numbers have made this week a nightmare for all of you and our entire team. We have had the executives, marketing, finance, content and everyone helping the support team. Our tech team members are working around the clock. Everyone is exhausted. Our customers who were wanting to watch a movie worry free this weekend, now feel frustrated.  Understandably so because we are just as frustrated.  We wanted you to have a great weekend and thought we had everything ready,” wrote CEO Neal Harmon on the VidAngel blog.

If you aren’t familiar with VidAngel, the company explains its purpose on its About Us page in a section titled “We Believe in Personal Freedom.”

“Producers and directors should have the personal freedom to create whatever movies and TV shows they choose. We condemn censorship of their content in the public sphere. But individuals, in the privacy of their homes, should have the personal freedom to watch that content in the way they choose. That right is protected by law. That’s why VidAngel does not claim to be a moral authority. We will never tell you what to watch or what filters to use when watching a movie or TV show. You have the choice to watch however the BLEEP you want. VidAngel just facilitates that your personal choice,” says VidAngel.

The reason for VidAngel’s new service is to replace the previous offering that had about a million users when they were told to shut it down, reports Variety. Harmon and his legal counsel believe that the new service is a legal workaround to the copyright allegations made Disney, 20^th Century Fox and Warner Bros. VidAngel does not, however, have approval from the streaming services to filter their content, so it could be possible that additional legal challenges could be forthcoming.

“This announcement is the culmination of something we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Neal Harmon, VidAngel’s CEO, tells Variety. “People have been without filtering services for months, and we’re launching this service because our customers are asking for it.”

Insider Take:

Regardless of platform, it seems there are still some big legal concerns with VidAngel and its potential violation of copyright. While we can appreciate the desire to filter content to be family-friendly, launching a subscription service to circumvent existing legal action seems very risky, not only with the studios creating the original content but also with the streaming services who have agreements with the studios and their subscribers.