ITV announced a new partnership with Disney this morning, whereby the UK and US broadcasters will “carry each other’s streaming services.” Starting on 16th July, Disney+ subscribers in the UK will be able to stream select ITV programming, while ITVX will have access to certain Disney+ shows and movies.
This means the agreement actually stops short of wholesale carriage of each other’s streaming services, instead offering curated selections of imported content on the respective streaming services. ITVX will offer a “rotating rail” of Disney+ content entitled ‘A Taste of Disney+’. At launch this will include FX’s The Bear, Lucasfilm’s Andor and Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, according to the announcement.
Disney+ meanwhile will present ‘A Taste of ITVX’, “a regularly refreshed selection of hit shows” from the UK broadcaster. ITV said these will initially include the hit drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, espionage thriller Spy Among Friends, and “selected series” of Love Island.
“We are proud of this innovative collaboration with ITV, which will allow us to bring Disney+ customers some of the UK’s favorite and buzzworthy shows and encourage ITVX viewers to discover some of Disney+’s award-winning series and blockbuster films,” said Joe Earley, President, Direct-to-Consumer at Disney Entertainment.
The domino effect
The move follows a pair of similar tie-ups in France, where TF1 has partnered with Netflix, and France Télévisions with Amazon Prime Video. The partnerships point towards a model where international streaming services become distribution channels for European broadcasters – not unlike the UK broadcasters’ strategy of releasing full episodes of shows on YouTube. And with all these announcements being made in the space of four weeks, this future appears to be developing quickly.
The precise nature of the deals differ in each case – France Télévisions for example has made the entire France.TV catalogue available through Prime Video, whereas the ITVX and Disney+ deal is an exchange of select content between the two streaming services. But the basic rationale behind the announcements is broadly similar: extending the broadcaster’s reach by putting its content in front of a different streaming service’s audience.
“This mutually beneficial alliance allows us to show our complementary audiences a specially selected collection of titles, regularly updating, that gives a flavour of the range in our respective offerings,” said Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment at ITV. “For us, this deal means even more great content for viewers on ITVX, and even more opportunity for viewers to find and enjoy our distinctive titles and services.”
The latest announcement also goes some way to addressing the issue previously explored by VideoWeek, as to whether these partnerships were unique to the dynamics of the French market, or whether other European broadcasters would follow suit. And while the strength of linear TV in France seems to be attracting streaming giants looking to tap into the local market, the growth of BVOD viewing against plateuing uptake of SVOD services in the UK appears to be presenting its own mutually beneficial opportunities.
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