Channel 5 in UK unites linear and streaming offerings with rebrand, adds other Paramount offerings
The 5 streaming service now offers 15 FAST channels
Paramount-owned Channel 5 in the UK and its accompanying VoD service My5 have rebranded as 5, uniting the linear and streaming offerings under one brand.
As well as housing all of Channel 5’s drama originals, factual series and Milkshake! kids’ programming, 5 will feature an expanded content offering of shows from Paramount’s other brands, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV Entertainment Studios, both live and on-demand and free of charge.
It will also allow viewers to sample content from SVoD platform Paramount+ and provide access to boxsets such as The Good Wife, Dexter and The Following.
The 5 streaming service now operates 15 FAST channels based on some of Paramount’s most popular shows and genres, including Police Interceptors, 5 Cops, Bargain Loving Brits, Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, The Yorkshire Vet, Geordie Shore, Catfish and Teen Mom. Genre-themed channels include MTV Reality and kids’ offering Milkshake!. More channels will follow during the year.
Sarah Rose, president of 5 and UK regional lead at Paramount, said: “This is the start of a new and exciting era for 5 as we bring together our linear and streaming services under one clear brand. Everything our audience and our advertisers already love about Channel 5 will be central to this relaunch – but there will be much more besides, with a huge array of content from the Paramount family and beyond, new live channels and a brand-new user experience for our streaming product.”
Ben Frow, 5’s chief content officer, added: “There is huge breadth of new content on streaming for viewers to discover, but the heart of 5 will always be our commitment to originated, UK-produced public service content – including our award-winning factual and more hours of original drama than we have ever commissioned.
“With an unmissable nationwide marketing campaign that is bigger than anything we’ve done before, I hope we can open the eyes of those who haven’t previously watched with us to some of the fantastic shows we have to entertain them.”
New UK-originated dramas coming up on 5 this year include period drama The Forsytes, a reimagining of John Galsworthy’s novel series The Forsyte Saga; The Feud; The Au Pair; Cat & Mouse; Mrs Felton’s Murder Mysteries; Murder Before Evensong; and The Rumour.
New unscripted shows include social experiment series The Sentence: You Be the Judge, HMP Wandsworth: Fit for Purpose?, Hunting the Shoplifters, Lawless Britain: Catching the Street Thieves and Dan Walker on Death Row. These programmes form part of 5’s Lawless Britain crime strand and are joined by one-off drama The Trial (working title), which explores a near future in which parents are held legally responsible for the crimes of their children.
Upcoming travelogues are Michael Palin in Venezuela (working title), Alexander Armstrong in India and Jane McDonald: From Pole to Pole, while new history series include Seven Wonders of the World and Rich Times, Poor Times.
New natural history shows feature The Secret Life of Bees, The Language of Trees and Volcano with Dara O’Briain.
