Rakuten TV is getting a fresh batch of free channels, thanks to a new deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. The European streamer is rolling out a set of FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels built around Sony’s library, giving viewers across the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the Nordics, and the Netherlands more to watch without paying a cent extra.
The lineup mixes genre-based channels with ones built entirely around a single show. Comedy TV, landing in the UK, Spain, Germany/Austria, Italy, and the Nordics, leans on classics like Seinfeld and The Nanny. Thriller TV, available in the UK and Germany, brings in heavier hitters like Breaking Bad and The Good Doctor. Then there’s Faves, spanning the UK, Spain, Germany/Austria, France, Italy, the Nordics, and the Netherlands, with nostalgia picks like Married with Children and Charlie’s Angels.
A few channels are built around a single title: Dragons’ Den in the UK, Shark Tank in Spain, The Blacklist in Spain and France, Bewitched in Italy, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the UK. Everything’s localised for its market, except in the Nordics, where the channels run in English.
Marcos Milanez, Rakuten TV’s Chief Content Officer, called the deal a reflection of a “long-standing relationship” with Sony that now spans TVoD, AVoD, and FAST. He pointed to FAST’s growing pull with viewers, especially when the content feels local and framed the 20 new channels as a way to broaden access to well-known shows while giving advertisers a larger, more engaged audience to reach.
Peter Wood, the Executive VP, consumer platforms and services, struck a similar note, saying the deal builds on the studio’s push to get its shows in front of more people through free, ad-supported platforms, and that teaming up with Rakuten TV means European audiences get an easy way to watch fan-favourite series without a subscription.
With this addition, Rakuten TV’s FAST catalogue now tops 500 channels, more than 100 of which it owns and runs itself.
