A first for UK television
Disney and Channel 4 have reached a landmark agreement covering content in the UK, and it will bring the Channel 4 linear network onto Disney+ — something that has not happened in the UK before. Described as one of the largest arrangements of its type in the history of British television, it means programmes such as the Channel 4 mainstay Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins and Maya, an upcoming series starring Bella Ramsey, will arrive on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland at the beginning of next year.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
After that initial batch, Karl Holmes, Disney+ general manager for EMEA, told Deadline that Channel 4 titles would keep coming to the service at a steady pace, though he declined to give a precise number. Subscribers in the UK and Ireland will be able to watch the new Channel 4 shows on the same day they air, alongside hundreds of hours of on-demand programming, including Russell T. Davies' Tip Toe and Nicola Coughlan's Big Mood. Channel 4's linear channel will also be carried in full on Disney+, a UK first.[S1]
Complementary audiences, shared goals
Priya Dogra, Channel 4's chief executive, said alongside Holmes that the Gogglebox broadcaster and Disney+ do not overlap much in audience terms, which allows the arrangement to work as a complement rather than a clash. Channel 4 already licenses Disney titles such as Abbott Elementary, The X Files and Scandal for its video-on-demand player. Dogra argued that viewers form habits in different places and may use several services to find programmes, so Channel 4 needs to be present on those platforms.[S1]
Holmes noted that Disney+ audiences are younger than those of public service broadcasters such as Channel 4, with roughly 40% of Disney+ viewing over the past year coming from people aged 16 to 34. He described the relationship as genuinely complementary and said Disney is not competing with free-to-air partners but helping them reach a wider audience.[S1]
Building on earlier European partnerships
The announcement follows by more than a year Disney+'s move to partner with local European networks, starting with a content-swapping arrangement with ITV that sent shows such as The Bear and The Kardashians to ITVX while Love Island and Mr Bates vs the Post Office travelled the other way. Deals with Germany's ZDF and Spain's Atresmedia came after that, and Netflix has meanwhile signed a prominent agreement with France's TF1 that Ted Sarandos has recently highlighted.[S1]
Holmes said the Channel 4 arrangement covers more ground than the ITV one and that his team drew lessons from the earlier deal. He said one clear takeaway was that concentrating on current, high-profile and much-discussed shows available on the same day as broadcast works especially well with Disney+ viewers, and that this had been the priority in the new collaboration, which Disney hopes to extend further.[S1]
Dogra's wider strategy
For Dogra, who has held her post for under a year, the deal is the latest major agreement she has helped orchestrate, following the advertising arrangement struck with Paramount's UK network 5, now part of Skydance. She has highlighted opportunities to collaborate, including placing Channel 4 programmes on BBC iPlayer, while playing down the prospect of a merger between the BBC and Channel 4.[S1]
According to Dogra, the Paramount arrangement provides Channel 4 with greater advertising scale, and the Disney tie-up allows it to extend its reach to the widest possible audience throughout the UK and Ireland, including people who might not yet use Channel 4's services. She said the underlying principle is to embrace the wider ecosystem, because Channel 4 is unable to achieve scale in every field alone and therefore needs partners that share its objectives. More information about the Disney-Channel 4 agreement is anticipated later.[S1]
