BBC Studios has unveiled a major expansion of its long-standing partnership with Movistar Plus+ in Spain, bringing new content offerings to Spanish audiences. The announcement comes just ahead of BBC Studios’ annual Showcase event on Feb. 24-25 and marks a significant increase in the company’s presence in the Spanish market.
Under the new, multi-year deal, BBC Studios will introduce BBC Player, a VOD service offering up to 1,000 hours of curated content from the BBC’s extensive catalogue. The service will feature a mix of scripted and unscripted titles, including popular shows like “The Louis Theroux Interviews” and “Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job.” BBC Player will be available to Movistar Plus+ subscribers later this year, alongside the launch of additional FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) channels.
For the past decade, BBC Studios and Movistar Plus+ have collaborated to deliver the former’s original content to Spanish viewers, with a particular focus on premium drama and natural history. Notable successes include “Planet Earth III,” “Mammals” and high-profile dramas like “Time 2” and “Blue Lights.” The expanded partnership will continue to showcase BBC Earth programming, including the highly anticipated “Blue Planet III” and “Kingdom.”
As part of this expansion, Movistar Plus+ will also take on exclusive advertising sales for BBC’s FAST channels and BBC Player’s VOD inventory, further solidifying its role as a key partner in the region.
Arran Tindall, Chief Commercial Officer, EVP – EMEA Key Markets, BBC Studios, contextualized the deal in a wider, global context, explaining: “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 utilize our broad and high-quality content catalog and provide opportunities to find new audiences in new markets.”
Ismael Calleja, Partnerships Director at Movistar Plus+, added: “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.”
