Viz Announces Online Naruto Shippuden Distribution

Viz Media has announced plans to begin distributing the Naruto Shippuden television series free online. The first 8 episodes of the current, second Naruto television series will be begin streaming with English subtitles on the official Naruto.com website on January 2, 2009. The website will add an additional 8 episodes every Friday until catching up to the current Japanese television broadcast. Starting January 15, the latest Japanese episodes will be available free online with English subtitles one week after their Japanese television broadcast.

Current episodes will be available on the Crunchyroll video distribution website on the same day as their Japanese television broadcast, to paid Crunchyroll subscribers, and available for free seven days later on Crunchyroll, Naruto.com, Joost, and Hulu.

A sneak peak of a Naruto Shippuden episode will be made available free on the Naruto.com Website this week.

Viz has not yet revealed any plans for English dubbed Naruto Shippuden episodes, nor any American television broadcast.

Source: Anime News Network & ICv2