BBC Studios has renewed and broadened its long-standing partnership with Movistar Plus+ in Spain, introducing the multi-genre VoD service, BBC Player, along with new FAST channels and an extended commitment to natural history and BBC Earth content.
The new agreement strengthens a decade-long collaboration between BBC Studios and Movistar Plus+, which has brought popular content like Planet Earth III, Mammals, Time 2, and the award-winning Blue Lights to Spanish viewers.
Janet Brown, President, Global Content Sales, BBC Studios, said, “Our partnership with Movistar Plus+ continues to thrive because we share a commitment to delivering entertaining stories that spark conversations. Our homegrown content, including crime dramas, natural history, science, and high-end documentaries, resonates strongly with Spanish audiences. This expanded agreement offers even more ways to connect and entertain audiences in the region with the content they love and deserve.”
As part of the expansion, BBC Player will debut later this year, offering up to 1,000 hours of curated BBC Studios content, including both scripted and unscripted shows. Spanish audiences can look forward to titles such as The Louis Theroux Interviews, Simon Reeve’s South America, and Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job. Future premieres on the platform will include Father Brown and the Paradise series Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise, and Return to Paradise. The VoD service will be available to all subscribers of Paquete Movistar+.
In January, Movistar Plus+ added four BBC FAST channels BBC Top Gear, BBC Drama, BBC Food, and BBC History. Under the expanded multi-year deal, two more FAST channels will launch later this year. Movistar Plus+ will also act as BBC Studios’ exclusive advertising sales partner for both the FAST channels and the VoD advertising inventory on BBC Player.
Arran Tindall, Chief Commercial Officer, EVP – EMEA Key Markets, BBC Studios, said, “This expansion of our decade-long relationship demonstrates how BBC Studios is able to respond and adapt to our key partners’ needs and benefit their customers. The growth of BBC Player and FAST channels in EMEA is a core part of our strategy, offering complementary products that utilise our broad and high-quality content catalogue and provide opportunities to find new audiences in new markets. I’m thrilled that Movistar Plus+ have come on board as a launch partner for BBC Player in Spain alongside their long-established content relationship with us.”
Ismael Calleja, Partnerships Director at Movistar Plus+, said, “The expansion of our partnership with BBC Studios demonstrates Movistar Plus+’s commitment to quality content that is valuable to our customers. In addition to premium content from the likes of BBC Earth and new series such as Blue Lights, we are incorporating up to six new BBC channels and launching the BBC Player service with its on-demand catalogue in Spain for the first time, which all our customers will be able to enjoy. In a market saturated with audiovisual offerings, Movistar Plus+ continues to be committed to excellence as a differentiating factor and in this sense we are very satisfied to have BBC Studios as a strategic partner.”
The partnership also continues its strong focus on natural history and factual programming with a dedicated BBC Earth branded block, bringing more nature documentaries and factual content to Spanish audiences.