The Walt Disney Co. and U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 have struck what they described as a “landmark agreement” and a “first-of-its-kind collaboration” that will bring Channel 4‘s main broadcast channel and on-demand content to Disney+ in the U.K. and Ireland” starting in early 2027.
“The agreement includes multiple Channel 4 shows being made available on-demand each year on Disney+ at the same time as their release via Channel 4,” the partners said. “These include drama Maya, featuring Bella Ramsey, comedy Stepping Up featuring Denise Welch, and reality format Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – plus Channel 4’s main TV channel and additional on-demand content.”
The news marks the latest content deal between Walt Disney‘s streaming service Disney+ and a big European broadcaster. It has previously also struck agreements with ITV in the U.K., which was then extended to Hulu, Italy’s RAI, ARD and ZDF in Germany, SIC in Portugal and with RTVE and Atresmedia in Spain.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has outlined his vision to make Disney+ the “digital centerpiece” of the company. Last year, Karl Holmes, general manager for Disney+ EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), emphasized the win-win aspect of content deals with European broadcasters. “Across the markets we operate in Europe, the big free-to-air channels still aggregate the largest audiences, have the largest shows, and have the largest production budgets,” he said. “It’s really important we do work with free-to-air. So we license content to free-to-air. We license content from free-to-air. We have co-production agreements in place with most of the large free-to-air broadcasters across Europe.”
Under the theme “owning our future,” Channel 4 has focused on a digital-first and partnerships-centric strategy designed to direct a greater proportion of its revenue towards distinctive British content.
Financial terms of the Channel 4-Disney+ pact weren’t disclosed.
“The collaboration with Channel 4 is one of the most significant that Disney+ has agreed globally to bring high-quality, local content to customers in markets around the world,” Disney said. “Building on their long-standing relationship, this deal will see Disney integrating Channel 4’s distinctive public service programming within the premium streaming environment of Disney+, enhancing Channel 4’s reach and bringing more choice to Disney+ customers.”
From early next year, Disney+ customers in the U.K. and Ireland will be able to watch Channel 4’s linear HD channel, plus hundreds of hours of its scripted and unscripted content through its on-demand catalogue, including Big Mood, Tip Toe and 24 Hours in A&E, directly on Disney+ at no extra cost.
The on-demand offering will feature a range of Channel 4 shows available “day and date” on Disney+, with the streamer saying that customers will gain “access to multiple new Channel 4 shows each year as part of their existing subscription.” Channel 4 will be available on Disney+ via a Channel 4-branded section featuring the same navigation and user experience as the rest of the streaming service.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Disney+ to give audiences even more ways to discover and enjoy Channel 4’s brilliant shows,” said Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra. “Channel 4 is home to some of the U.K. and Ireland’s most talked about and trusted programming, and this new service will help those shows reach viewers in new places. This exciting step shows how collaboration between broadcasters and streamers can create more choice and value for audiences.”
Adam Smith, chairman direct-to-consumer at Disney Entertainment, said: “Local broadcaster partnerships are very important as we build our content libraries and serve fans around the world. Channel 4 has created shows with strong appeal to audiences in the U.K. and Ireland, and we’re excited to bring some of those favorites to Disney+. This agreement is the latest example of our global strategy, pairing high-quality local programming and cultural relevance with a complementary audience and more personalized streaming experience on Disney+.”
Further details on the launch timing and content available under the partnership will be unveiled down the line.
Dogra told THR that bringing the linear main channel, “a substantial on-demand offering and certain day-to-day titles” to Disney+ is based on a core thesis related to consumer trends. “As audience habits evolve and people go to multiple places to find content, Channel 4 needs to transform to meet those evolving habits,” she explained. “And this agreement will allow customers across Disney+ across the U.K. and Ireland to be exposed to our brilliant public service programming, and it will be a complement to our owned and operated linear, digital and streaming services.”
Holmes touted that bringing more distinctive local content to the Disney streamer adds a key offering to “the core of the Disney+ proposition that is the incredible paywall movie slate from Disney, complemented by the global Hulu-branded general entertainment.” And he told THR: “We think that the next wave of our growth is going to be driven in large part by local. We’re growing very strongly right now. We’re up by 30 percent in subscribers in EMEA in the last 18 months [which had been more than 25 percent as of June]. Our engagement is also substantially higher, and in significant part, that is because of more local originals and more great local shows from our free-to-air partners across Europe.”
He emphasized about the Channel 4 deal in the context of the EMEA region that he oversees: “This collaboration, though, is our most ambitious yet, and it will bring more shows, bigger shows to our customers here in the U.K.”
Holmes also highlighted key content values as a driver behind the deal. “Channel 4’s commissioning strategy is distinctive and buzzy, and we would like to benefit from that,” he told THR, emphasizing that the commissioning power, of course, remains with the U.K. broadcaster. And he pointed to Disney+’s big young adult audiences as appealing to the new partner: “It’s a way of bringing Channel 4’s biggest, most talked-about shows to our younger audience in a premium environment on Disney+.”
Indeed, data from U.K. measurement firm BARB shows that 3 percent of total Channel 4 viewership hours are consumed by people aged 4-15, compared with 17 percent on Disney+, 10 percent (compared with 39 percent) by people 16-34, 10 percent (versus 21 percent) by people aged 35-44 and 15 percent (compared with 12 percent) by people aged 45-54. The rest, 63 percent (compared with 11 percent) are audiences aged 55-plus.
Calling the new collaboration “ambitious,” Dogra shared that “one of the things that attracted us to Disney is not only that we are able to reach audiences that might not always come to Channel 4, but also that they really understand the value of local programming and the value of brands. And it was really important to us that the Channel 4 branding is preserved alongside the programming.”
Both executives see room to further expand the partnership. Could more Disney content come to Channel 4? “We license a lot of Disney programming already,” highlighted Dogra.” We have everything from The Simpsons to This Is Us, not to mention Disney films like The Avengers. And as this partnership develops, there will be other things that Karl and I will continue to talk about.”
Holmes echoes that, saying: “We’re all in, and we would love this to evolve to be an even broader partnership.”
Disney+ has been learning a lot from its various local partnerships. “We have, over the last 12-18 months, at Disney+ gathered significant experience of working with broadcast partners in major countries across Europe,” he told THR. “We learn what works best, and we learn what works less well. This collaboration is the culmination [of what we have learned]. But we will learn more over the next months about what works and what doesn’t and how we should be presenting the shows best on Disney+ to make them work and so on.”
Dogra says her team will be ready. “We are here to have impact, and the way that you have impact is you reach the maximum number of people across the U.K. and Ireland,” she told THR. “That has always informed our commissioning strategy. Once you see how audiences respond to a show, this only gives us more information about potentially new audiences coming to us, and that will continue to inform our future commissioning strategy.”
The Channel 4 CEO doesn’t want anyone to misunderstand, though, that the Disney+ partnership means any change at the services that the broadcaster offers. “It’s important to say that our owned and operated services, whether it’s the main channel or the streaming service, still remain very important,” she emphasized. “They remain home of the vast majority of Channel 4 programming, but this [deal] is really a way for us to work with a brilliant partner and reach potential new audiences.”