By Connie Thiessen
Pluto TV made its debut in Canada today, via a partnership with Corus Entertainment, launching with more than 20,000 hours of free programming.
The Paramount-owned FAST (free ad-supported) streaming service offers both live linear channels and thousands of on-demand titles. It currently boasts a global audience of 72 million monthly active users across 30 countries and territories.
Pluto TV’s Canadian offering includes over 110 thematic and single-series channels from Classics, Drama, and Reality, to Comedy, Sports, Gaming, and numerous Movie channels organized by genre.
More than 30 channels will dedicated to Canadian content with six Home & DIY channels featuring personalities like Bryan and Sarah Baeumler, Sarah Richardson, Sebastian Clovis and Scott McGillivray, four Food channels that feature Canadian celebrity chefs like Anna Olson and Lynn Crawford, five Kids channels offering Canadian series like Max and Ruby and Franklin, and Degrassi: The Next Generation, and 14 News & Opinion channels giving Canadian viewers access to around-the-clock local Global News channels from Toronto, Montreal, B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Kingston, Lethbridge, the Okanagan, Peterborough, Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon. National news channels will carry Global News National, CBS News and Cheddar News.
Pluto TV Canada will also offer French-language channels featuring Dora TV FR, Tortues Ninja TV, South Park FR, Doctor Who FR, Degrassi FR, Alerte à Malibu and Les Nouveaux Détectives.
“I am thrilled to officially introduce Pluto TV to Canadian audiences, bringing them a fantastic lineup that combines the best of Corus’ Canadian content, Paramount’s deep library and more than 100 third-party partners. The union of Pluto TV and Corus delivers the best of both worlds, debuting a free streaming destination for fans, and creating opportunities for advertisers, offering a premium inventory in a brand safe TV environment,” said Olivier Jollet, Executive Vice President & International General Manager for Pluto TV, in a release. “This year has marked tremendous growth for Pluto TV, having expanded to the Nordics in May and now to Canada. As we are now in more than 30 countries and territories, we are one step closer to our mission to entertain the planet.”
“The debut of Pluto TV marks the next evolution of streaming in Canada, as Corus celebrates the launch alongside Paramount Global as partners in both content and ad sales,” added Troy Reeb, Executive Vice President, Broadcast Networks, Corus Entertainment. “Corus is home to Canada’s biggest portfolio of original content in the food and lifestyle space, and the stories that connect with Canadians where they live through Global News. Our strategy has always been rooted in placing more content in more places, and Pluto TV further advances this goal. We are also thrilled to expand our offering for advertisers with the addition of Pluto TV’s huge inventory of premium video.”
Corus will act as the Canadian ad representative for Pluto TV.
No registration is required to start watching. Canadian users can access Pluto TV via pluto.tv, the Pluto TV app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Samsung and LG devices, and via mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play.
This story first appeared on Broadcast Dialogue and is reprinted with permission.
