ITV has announced it is building a suite of FAST channels as a showcase for its scripted and non-scripted content.
Fifteen FAST channels are now now available across 16 territories with ITV Studios programming over 3,500 hours across three continents.
Graham Haigh, EVP, Global Digital Partnerships at ITV Studios, said: “Both FAST and social platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat and Meta are enabling us to diversify our distribution business, launch new brands & channels whilst allowing us to become a step closer to the consumer with greater access to data and insights.”
Amongst the soon to be launched FAST channels are a single IP offering based around the quiz show Eggheads (Samsung and Pluto UK) and The Hotel Inspector channel in Australia with Samsung TV Plus. These will be closely followed by True Lives by ITV Studios featuring inspiring human stories, true crime, and award-winning documentaries, which will initially launch in the UK on Samsung, Pluto, LG and Rakuten.
Schitt’s Creek, the multi-award-winning international hit CBC show is now available as a single IP channel across almost 40 territories in Latin America and the World of Love Island brings the hit brand to the Nordics in FAST form, available on Pluto (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) alongside Samsung and Rakuten in Sweden.
These new channels join ITV Studios’ existing suite of global hit brands with dedicated FAST channels, such as Come Dine with Me, Hell’s Kitchen USA, and River Monsters. Various international versions of Come Dine with Me are now available in the United States (Roku and Freevee), alongside channels in the UK and Australia (Samsung), the Nordics and the Netherlands (both Rakuten).
The Hell’s Kitchen US channel is now available across the UK, US, Nordics, Netherlands, and Australia, while a fully localised channel has also launched on Pluto, Samsung, LG, Freevee and Rakuten in Germany. Also fully localised, River Monsters has launched in Germany on Pluto, LG and Freevee, with Samsung TV Plus in Australia soon to launch also, where it is already available with 7Plus.
Elsewhere, a channel dedicated to Tetra Media’s Un Village Francais, set within the backdrop of the second world war, launched earlier this year on Samsung and Pluto in France.
Finally, two existing channels will re-brand. Storylands has become World Drama by ITV Studios, with shows including Jordskott, Aber Bergen and Un Village Francais available on the channel in the UK (Samsung, Freevee, Rakuten and LG) while ITV Choice on Samsung TV Plus in Australia will now be known as Entertain by ITV Studios, featuring shows such as Four Weddings and Paul O’Grady’s For the Love of Dogs.