No, those two subject may not be directly related, but both have been fairly big news within the last week.
It was reported last Thursday that Navarre, Funimation's current owner, is in the process of looking for a buyer for Funimation by the end of the first quarter fiscal year 2011. Cue the requisite doom-and-gloom talk from the peanut gallery, but a timely interview with Funimation President Gen Fukunada helps to clear up the situation somewhat (Dear Bandai, you could take a cue from this guy - he actually helped to clear up the situation rather than befuddle everyone even more).
In case anyone is link-phobic, the gist of the situation is that Funimation is branching more and more into digital distribution (via their various streaming channels and download-to-own episodes) as well as some upcoming, to-be-named co-productions with Japanese studios, an area where Navarre doesn't focus their expertise (they're mostly involved with distribution and publishing). So it's not an angry divorce, more like a mutually-beneficial separation.
The other major news of the week came from across the pond in the UK, where the British arm of Namco Bandai, Beez, announced that they had licensed the popular Winter 2010 series Durarara! This is sort of a shocker because, as far as official news goes, Durarara! doesn't have a US DVD distribution deal, and it's considered fairly uncommon for the UK to make the first grab for titles (not that they shouldn't, good for them!). Of course this opened a can of worms, with many complaints raised about the length of Funimation's release cycle (it seems as though Funimation's dubbing materials are often used in subsequent UK releases of series), and the potential for the series to be released in the US with subtitles-only (there are rumors to that effect which involve Aniplex's new release strategy of offering the titles it produces directly rather than licensing them out).
While I don't really have any major opinions on what this current licensing deal might mean for those of us in the States, I will say that I'm curious and a bit excited to see some new licensing strategies coming about, and the normal way of going about things being questioned. I think that there's still a lot of vitality in this industry, and perhaps in the next couple of years there might be some exciting results.
If they want a buyer who has experience with digital distribution, one possible candidate for them might be Starz. They have Manga, to be sure, but it's been a lackluster item for a while -- and Starz has partnered very heavily with NetFlix, et al. to get stuff digitally streamed.