Disney has licensed 10 series to Channel 4’s streaming service in the U.K.
The deal, which will add some 1,000 hours of American drama to Channel 4’s streaming platform, will kick off with “Alias” seasons 1-5 and “The Americans” seasons 1-6 this summer, followed by “Empire” seasons 1-6, “Scandal” seasons 1-7, “The X Files” seasons 1-11, “Bones” seasons 1-12, “The Killing” seasons 1-4, “Star” seasons 1-3, “Grown-ish” seasons 1-6 and “Abbott Elementary” seasons 1-2.
Except “Star,” all the series are available on streamer Disney+ in the U.K., which requires a monthly subscription. The Channel 4 streaming service is free.
The Disney move is the latest in a burgeoning trend of studios being open to licensing content to third parties. Warner Bros. Discovery is in talks to licence a package of library HBO titles to Netflix, while original Amazon series like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will be sold off-platform to third parties for the first time, the company revealed in May as it launched Amazon MGM Studios Distribution.
Nick Lee, head of acquisitions at Channel 4, said: “We’re so pleased to have agreed such an extensive content deal with Disney, ranging from their most iconic series like ‘The X-Files’ to fresh hits such as ‘Abbott Elementary’ and ‘Star.’ We look forward to our viewers being able to binge series after series on Channel 4.”
The 10 new Disney series will be available to stream on Channel 4 from later this month.
In 2022, U.K. public service broadcaster rebranded its VoD service All4 as Channel 4. The service used to be known as 4oD and it was renamed as All4 in 2015.