WatchIt! adds celeb channel, buys factual

MIPCOM: French digital distribution outfit Alchimie has launched a celebrity-focused channel and acquired a raft of factual content for its international multichannel SVoD service, WatchIt!.

Around 100 hours of high-end documentary content from French producer-distribution outfits Java Films, NoKzeDoc and Lukarn TV will launch on WatchIt!’s existing OTT channel Humanity and newly launched network Big Name.

Humanity focuses on investigative current affairs and the big issues of modern life, while Big Name, which launched yesterday, centres on famous personalities, with profiles of Nina Simone, Don McCullin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Phillip K Dick and others.

Big Name has launched with more than 150 hours of English-, German- and French-language content, and is seeking to add more on a regular basis, said Alchimie’s CEO Nicolas d’Hueppe.

Alchimie’s chief content officer Frederic Rossignol called the new content deals a “natural fit” for WatchIt! channels and audiences. “We feel very fortunate to be working with documentary partners of this calibre,” he said.

Alchimie has offices in France, Germany and Australia, and partners with more than 200 content rights owners on a revenue-sharing basis, in return for services including digitisation, translation, subtitling, dubbing and promotion on its channel bouquets.

WatchIt! channels are available in English, German and French and available to about 170 million subscribers in more than 10 countries on a number of platforms, including EE, Vodafone, IoS, Apple TV, Android TV, Orange SFR, 02 and T-Mobile. The service claims to attract up to 20 million unique visitors a month.