Rakuten TV has announced the launch of 21 new channels in Spain, Italy, and France as part of ongoing expansion plans across key territories.
The new additions, which will offer a variety of entertainment across lifestyle, nature, film, animation, music, and culture, are either available immediately or set to launch within the coming months.
In Spain, seven new channels have been acquired: Mi Casa, Buen Viaje, Crimen TV, Naturaleza, Pongalo from US streaming entertainment pioneer XUMO, Love Nature, a wildlife and nature brand with linear and streaming channels available in over 135 countries and gaming specialist World Poker Tour. The new channels further increase Rakuten TV’s portfolio of free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels.
In Italy, seven new channels will be added to the platform: Shorts, BFC Forbes, Radio Italia Trend, Cuore Ribelle, Italian Fishing TV, Brindiamo! and Filmrise Sci-Fi.
The new channels for the Italian market focus on film and TV, business, sports, and lifestyle. Shorts is a channel designed for film enthusiasts and is the only worldwide network dedicated to short films. With over 13,000 titles, it has the world’s largest catalogue of quality short film offerings. BFC Forbes offers informative programmes providing insight into business-focussed topics such as finance, CSR, space economy, innovation, and sustainable mobility. Radio Italia Trend offers 24/7 music-based programming dedicated to the best Italian indie, rap, and trap music; and fans of Spanish TV soap opera Cuore Ribelle (Bandolera) can tune into the show’s dedicated channel and namesake. Italian Fishing TV is the first Italian channel completely devoted to sport fishing. Those looking to satisfy their curiosity for cooking and lifestyle can tune into Brindiamo! and sci-fi fans will have access to Filmrise Sci-Fi, a branded linear channel dedicated to popular sci-fi shows Andromeda and Mutant X.
In France, seven new channels – Museum TV, My Zen TV, Universciné, Anime Digital Network (ADN) Wild Side TV and Zylo’s Emotion’L and Ciné Nanar Channel – join Rakuten TV’s French platform.
Entertainment, culture, arts and animation are at the forefront of the new channels; Museum TV features shows including art documentaries, entertainment programmes and drawing classes. All in one lifestyle channel, My Zen TV offers programmes covering light sports, home, health, relaxation, well-being, cooking, travel and beauty. Universciné is a channel that focuses on the promotion and distribution of independent cinema and Anime Digital Network is a manga streaming channel offering a wide variety of animation series.
Zylo is the first FAST channel dedicated to fiction aimed at women, Emotion’L and features over 1500 hours of premium content from award-winning producers, covering the best in romance, comedies and thrillers, where female protagonists are central to the story.
Zylo’s Ciné Nanar Channel is a new FAST channel dedicated to a mixture of nostalgic movies that focus on action, disaster and creature movies in the fight and sci-fi/ fantasy realm.
All channels are available immediately except for World Poker Tour, Motorsport, Emotion’L and Ciné Nanar Channel, which are coming soon.
Rakuten TV is the first on demand and streaming platform in Europe combining TVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST services.
Its linear channels are currently accessible for free on the Rakuten TV app on selected Samsung, LG and Vestel Smart TV devices.
