TCL TV owners will have access to a wider range of free streaming content, including Hollywood and European movies and TV series.
- Rakuten TV and TCL partner to bring more than 50 free streaming channels to viewers.
Streaming content provider Rakuten TV is partnering with consumer electronics manufacturer TCL to bring more than 50 free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels across multiple genres, to TCL Channel, TCL’s free streaming service, available on millions of TCL smart TVs across Europe.
The channels will include Rakuten TV’s owned and operated (O&O) channels and selected third-party channels from other brands. This collaboration leverages Rakuten TV’s technology, transforming for the first time the streaming platform also into a technical integrator that enables FAST channel distribution for connected TVs (CTVs).
TCL users across Europe will soon have access to a wider variety of free entertainment, ranging from Hollywood and European movies, kids’ content, documentaries, TV series, lifestyle and reality shows.
Rakuten TV will provide a mix of its own channels across the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Poland, including Rakuten TV Top Movies, Rakuten TV Drama, Rakuten TV Action, and Rakuten TV Romance, among others.
Sidharth Jayant, Chief Product Officer at Rakuten TV commented:
“While maintaining a successful B2C business, our team has worked hard to build the technology to create FAST channels for the most popular platforms, monetise content using SSAI, EPG scheduling and content management. Leveraging our 15 years of experience, today we begin distributing our strong FAST Channels offering with TCL and also open the door for third party content owners to partner with us and easily deploy their FAST Channels while maximising their monetisation potential. We look forward to working with TCL and strengthen our existing lineup of platforms on which we distribute FAST Channels.”
Rebecca Wang, Head of BD at TCL, added:
“We are excited about the collaboration between TCL Channel and Rakuten TV. The high-quality FAST channels include variety of genres that will surely appeal to our audience across Europe and further enhance the content ecosystem of TCL Channel, bringing a more diverse viewing experience to our users”.
As a result of this development, users of TCL TVs begin to catch-up with similar streaming channel services provided by Samsung, LG and Roku to their customers.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: Rakuten