The Walt Disney Company and Britain’s main commercial public service broadcaster ITV have forged a streaming-focused content partnership that will see each brand distribute a sampling of the other’s film and TV library on their respective connected TV (CTV) services.
As part of the deal, the hit ITV reality-based drama “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office” will be available on Disney Plus in the United Kingdom, as well as some seasons of the popular “Love Island” dating show. Disney will license “Lilo & Stitch: The Series” and “Phineas and Ferb” to ITV for streaming on its ITVX platform.
The shows are just a small amount of the content that will be cross-licensed between the two services — others include “The Bear,” “Andor” and “Only Murders in the Building” from Disney, as well as “Endeavour” and “Vera” from ITV.
On Disney, streamers will be able to find content from ITV through a dedicated menu called “A Taste of ITVX,” while ITV will promote Disney’s shows and movies through a portal called “A Taste of Disney Plus.”
The partnership is an effort to cross-promote each other’s services; ITVX is free to use and supported by ads, while Disney Plus requires a paid monthly or annual subscription to access.
“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,” Joe Earley, the President of Direct-to-Consumer at Disney Entertainment, said in a statement.
“Disney are fantastic partners with a brilliant breadth of content,” ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo said on Thursday. “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.”
For now, the partnership will only affect viewers of each streaming service in the United Kingdom. The companies didn’t say whether Disney, in the future, will also offer ITV shows in other territories where its Disney Plus service is available.
