UK’s Channel 4 & Disney strike 1,000 hour deal for shows incl ‘Abbott Elementary’, ‘Bones’, ‘Empire’ & ‘The X-Files’

Abbot Elementary

Channel 4’s UK-based streaming service has picked up 10 Disney shows – totalling 1,000 hours – amid the Mouse House’s evolving distribution strategy, with series including Abbott Elementary, Bones, Empire, Alias and Scandal set to be available.

Cult classic The X-Files, the US remake of The Killing, Cold War drama The Americans and sitcom Grown-Ish round out the package for Channel 4’s streamer, which was rebranded as Channel 4 in April.

The first shows to become available this summer will be Alias S1-5 and The Americans S1-6, followed by Empire S1-6, Scandal S1-7, The X-Files S1-11, Bones S1-12, The Killing S1-4, Star S1-3, Grown-Ish S1-6 and Abbott Elementary S1-2.

Disney’s shifting sales strategy

Earlier this year, Channel 4 picked up shows from NBCUniversal for its streamer, including Dr Death, while the move underlines Disney’s increasing propensity for third-party distribution deals following the six-month-old overhaul of its strategy under CEO Bob Iger.

The shows, aside from Star, had previously been available on Disney+ in the UK, while some have previously been available via streamers such as Amazon Prime Video.

Nick Lee, C4’s head of acquisitions, 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.”