While Disney operates its own free-to-air linear channel, ABC, in the United States, internationally, things are a little different. While Disney has closed down many of its linear channels in many countries around the world, it does still do business with many major channels, such as the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV in the United Kingdom.

Original programming such as “Under The Banner Of Heaven”, “Extraordinary”, “Culprits” and “A Murder At The End Of The World” has been made available on ITV, while the BBC has licensed shows such as “Love, Victor” and “The Dropout”, with Channel 4 offering films such as “Rosaline” and “Fire Island” to audiences

Recently, during a panel session at the Media & Telecoms 2025 & Beyond Conference in London, Karl Holmes, who is the head of Disney EMEA, explained why they continue to work with major free-to-air channels 

“Across the markets we operate in Europe, the big free-to-air channels still aggregate the largest audiences, have the largest shows, and have the largest production budgets.  That’s really important. We’re also part of that. We operate linear channels in 28 markets across Europe, and they are an important and sustainable part of our business.

How do we work with free-to-air? Because free-to-air [broadcasters] aggregate the largest audiences and have the largest production budgets, it’s really important we do work with free-to-air. So we license content to free-to-air. We license content from free-to-airs. We have co-production agreements in place with most of the large free-to-air broadcasters across Europe.

In Spain and in the Nordics, the paid VOD platforms actually sell Disney+. We’re delighted that some of our best-performing original content comes from free-to-airs. We want to do more of this.  The free-to-air partners are incredibly important for our business. We’re part of the media ecosystem.”

While Disney had initially attempted to retain all of its original programming for Disney+ during its initial rollout, strategies have since changed, especially as Disney realised how much money it was losing from no longer licensing content to other platforms.  While we don’t tend to see shows from its core brands like Pixar, Marvel or Star Wars such as “The Mandalorian”, “WandaVision” or “Win Or Lose”, licensed out, when it comes to its general entertainment offerings from 20th Television, FX and its international productions, Disney sees things very differently.

Free-to-air channels do have a much larger reach than streaming services alone, so taking an older title and offering it to more people, is going to expand the audience and increase licensing revenue.   It’s certainly better that Disney opens up its newer original programming for licensing than it did a few years ago, when it wrote off billions of dollars worth of failed programming, essentially deleting shows like “Willow” or “Pistol” from existence.  Now, it would rather sell that show to other platforms, to help recover those costs.

There are also additional benefits, as I assume “Rivals” is likely to get a general release on ITV in the UK prior to the release of the second season on Disney+, which will help generate more buzz around the show, likely increasing the chances of new subscribers signing up to watch future seasons.

Many of the original free-to-air platforms like the BBC and ITV are still the go-to place for entertainment for many generations, and that established brand loyalty is going to be hard for any new streaming service to compete.  Over time, younger generations will likely think of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon, in the same way as many older viewers think of the current free-to-air platforms, but right now, Disney looks to be trying to make the most of the situation. 

Do you think Disney+ licensing out content to free-to-air channels is a good idea?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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