Paramount to merge My5 & Pluto TV in UK to create new AVOD service

Dalgliesh

Paramount Global is combining My5, the BVOD service of its UK broadcaster Channel 5, with FAST service Pluto TV to create a new UK AVOD platform that will launch next year.

The combined entity will feature new, exclusive and archived content from Channel 5, as well as an on-demand section and a collection of curated FAST channels from Pluto TV. The as-yet-unnamed streamer will combine BVOD, FAST, AVOD and live TV and is expected to launch in the second half of 2024.

My5 content headed to the new combined platform will include dramas such as Dalgleish and All Creatures Great And Small, as well as unscripted titles like Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild, The Yorkshire Vet and Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly. 

Pluto TV’s UK offering, meanwhile, includes more than 150 channels programmed with content from Paramount and other content partners, such as Judge Judy Sheindlin and Dog The Bounty Hunter, the CSI franchise, MTV shows like Catfish and Teen Mum and 10 curated movie channels.

“As we look ahead to an IP-delivered future, this is the right time for us to fully leverage the Paramount ecosystem and combine the reach and scale of our free-to-air network in the UK with the global success of our FAST service, Pluto TV, said Maria Kyriacou, president of broadcast & studios, Paramount International Markets, who revealed that Paramount is “well underway” with work on the new service.

“As an early pioneer of FAST globally, we’ve seen incredible growth and excitement for Pluto TV in markets around the world. By joining forces with our leading BVOD platform in the UK, we are offering audiences, partners, and clients a supersized free streaming destination that we know they’ll love,” added Olivier Jollet, EVP and GM of Pluto TV.