Channel 5 and streaming service My5 to combine and relaunch as 5
The new free platform will feature content from Paramount+ and boxsets such as Dexter, The Good Wife and The Following.
Channel 5 and its streaming platform My5 have combined and relaunched as 5 in a move which will see 15 new live channels introduced.
The channel’s drama originals, factual content and children’s programming under its Milkshake! brand will feature on the new free platform, along with content drawn from its owner Paramount such as BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV.
It will also feature live and on-demand content from Paramount+, along with a range of boxsets such as Dexter, The Good Wife and The Following.
The 15 new live channels include Police Interceptors, 5 Cops, Bargain Loving Brits, Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, The Yorkshire Vet, Geordie Shore, Catfish, Teen Mom, MTV Reality and Milkshake!, with more channels set to be added later in the year.
New shows will include six-part period drama The Forsytes, starring Francesca Annis, one-off drama The Trial, which explores a near future in which parents are held legally responsible for the crimes of their children, and Dan Walker On Death Row, which will see the presenter look at capital punishment in the US.
New factual programming will include a new social experiment called The Sentence: You Be The Judge, presented by Anne Robinson, which will reconstruct real sentencing hearings and give viewers the chance to decide on the sentence they think a convicted criminal offender should get.
Travel presenters Jane McDonald and Sir Michael Palin are also set to return in Michael Palin In Venezuela and Jane McDonald: From Pole To Pole, while Pointless star Alexander Armstrong will appear in Alexander Armstrong In India.
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.”
Another new factual show, Rich Times, Poor Times, will also feature, and see TV judge Rob Rinder and historian Ruth Goodman look at some of the most turbulent moments in history, while Platoon will go behind the scenes with new recruits joining the British Army.
New natural history programmes will include The Secret Life Of Bees and The Language Of Trees, a three-part series exploring the hidden world of the earth’s trees.
The platform will also see new series of All Creatures Great and Small, Madame Blanc, The Good Ship Murder, Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild, The Yorkshire Vet, Cause Of Death, Murder Suspect No 1 and 22 Kids And Counting.
Ben Frow, chief content officer at 5, said: “We have always been led by our audience and bringing Channel 5 and My5 together as 5 reflects our ambition that they can watch or stream whichever way suits them best.
“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.”
Over the next few months, 5 will roll out across all platforms and devices where My5 is currently available, including pay TV, such as Sky, Virgin Media, EE TV and TalkTalk, internet connected TVs, such as Freely, Freeview Play, Samsung, LG, Fire TV, Roku, Google TV, and tvOS, mobile devices, and channel5.com.
