Disney and ITV will launch a new, first-of-its-kind initiative to carry each other’s streaming services.
In the form of a promotional selection, the partnership will be billed as a “Taste of ITVX” and a “Taste of Disney+” on their respective platforms, the companies confirmed Thursday.
From Jul. 16, a curated and regularly refreshed selection of hit shows and movies from Disney+ and ITVX will be available to viewers on both platforms.
Disney+ customers in the U.K. will be able to stream some of ITV’s most popular scripted and unscripted content, including the award-winning Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Spy Among Friends and reality show Love Island.
At the same time, ITVX viewers will be introduced to a rotating rail of Disney+ shows and movies. Among them will be the first season of FX’s The Bear, Lucasfilm’s Andor as well as the Emmy-nominated Only Murders in the Building. Reality titles made available include The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and The Kardashians. “A Taste of Disney+” will be available to all ITVX viewers at no cost, and ad free on ITVX Premium.
The agreement builds on the “strong, evolving relationship” between Disney and ITV, the companies said. “This wouldn’t work if we had the same demographic as ITVX,” said Karl Holmes, general manager, Disney+, EMEA, who caught up with The Hollywood Reporter on the details of the deal as the news was announced.
ITV is the free-to-air home for Disney+’s Renegade Nell and the forthcoming Under the Bridge, whilst ITV Studios is the producer behind hit Disney+ shows including Rivals (Happy Prince), Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes (Etta Pictures in association with KDJ Productions), and the return of Britain’s original dating series Blind Date (So TV & Stellify Media).
“We are proud of this innovative collaboration with ITV, which will allow us to bring Disney+ customers some of the U.K.’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.
Kevin Lygo, managing director of media and entertainment at ITV, added: “Disney are fantastic partners with a brilliant breadth of content… 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.
“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.”
This “bundling” or combining of traditional TV providers with streaming is becoming quite the norm across Europe, with Netflix and TF1, and Amazon and France Televisions partnering in France, and RTL acquiring Sky in Germany.
