Wuaki races towards SVOD deal with Disney

Spanish streaming service Wuaki has scored an exclusive SVOD agreement to bring programming from Disney-owned US cable channel Freeform to its subscribers.

The deal includes teen- and young adult-focused shows such as Beyond, Stitchers, Dead of Summer, The Fosters, Young & Hungry and Secret Life of an American Teenager.

Freeform (fka ABC Family) is part of the Disney-ABC Television Group, which is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

Wuaki subscribers will be able to access the shows from this month. They currently pay either €0.99 (US$1.04) for 48 access to movies and series, or €6.99 a month for unlimited access.

Wuaki, acquired by Japanese e-commerce giant Ratuken in 2012, has been expanding into new European territories in recent times, debuting in Germany, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands after its Spanish debut.

The platform employs a transactional VOD model in all territories, but also provides an SVOD service in Spain. It did offer SVOD access briefly in the UK in 2013, but dropped the offer soon after launch, and has a Gulli-branded subs service for kids available in France.

In November last year, Wuaki’s European content director, Simon Homent, said there was a “never-say-never” attitude to further SVOD launches. This would put the service more directly in competition with global subscription streamers Netflix and Amazon.