Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service Disney+ continues to strike what it has consistently described as “historic” content deals with major European broadcasters, on Friday adding Spain’s RTVE to its list of partners.
“Disney+ and RTVE have reached a strategic agreement that will bring a selection of the most successful public broadcast shows to Disney+, starting March 31,” the companies said. “This collaboration expands the entertainment offer available to Disney+ customers, while providing RTVE with a new distribution window that expands the scope of its content and connects with new, younger audiences across Spain.” Financial terms were not disclosed.
THR You understand that the RTVE agreement represents the first time that Europe’s state broadcaster has agreed to make shows available on a streaming platform the day after their linear broadcast.
The programming agreement adds to the growing number of existing deals with European free-to-air broadcasters, specifically ITV in the UK, which was recently expanded to include Hulu, ARD and ZDF in Germany, SIC in Portugal, and Atresmedia in Spain. The RTVE deal builds on Disney’s agreement in Spain with Atresmedia and its broader strategy of collaborating with major broadcasters across the continent.
Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s newly appointed CEO, recently outlined his vision for making Disney+ the company’s “digital hub.” Last year, Karl Holmes, general manager of Disney+ in EMEA, emphasized the win-win aspect of content deals with European broadcasters. “In all the markets we operate in Europe, the big free-to-air channels still have the biggest audiences, have the biggest shows, and have the biggest production budgets,” he said. “It’s really important that we work with free-to-air broadcasting. So we license content for free-to-air broadcasting. We license content for free-to-air broadcasting. We have co-production agreements with most of the big free-to-air broadcasters across Europe.”
Disney executives also highlighted the benefits to both parties in such deals, the details of which depend on local needs. Broadcasters have the opportunity to reach younger audiences, while Disney+ can complement its successful global content with local programming.
The latest agreement reinforces Disney+’s commitment to Spanish production and audio-visual talent, as well as RTVE’s ambition to maximize the exposure of its content through partnerships with global platforms. “Both companies are approaching this transaction with the goal of continuing to explore new synergies that contribute to the growth and enhancement of their editorial and audiovisual strategies,” Friday’s press release said.
Among the selected drama and factual content covered by Disney+’s deal with RTVE is Master Chefone of the best performing shows in Spain. Disney+ will premiere the full 14th season of the series, produced by RTVE in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, and season 11 of Celebrity MasterChefImmediately after its broadcast on the La1 network.
Among the written content covered by the deal is Rojo Sobre Blancoan upcoming series produced by Mediawan’s Good Mood. More titles will be announced later.
“RTVE is beloved by viewers in Spain, with a rich heritage of decades of amazing shows,” Holmes said. “With this agreement, we are excited to bring to Disney+ customers some of the most popular new RTVE shows, which are some of the most popular and recognized formats in Spanish television. Integrating these programs into Disney+ reinforces our ambition to enrich the service, while giving greater visibility to extraordinary creative talent across Spain.”
He added: “This collaboration reflects our commitment to working closely with Europe’s largest free-to-air broadcasters, to bring their high-quality local stories to young and new audiences. We look forward to embarking on this journey with RTVE and are confident that it will lead to many more projects together.”
