Pluto TV to arrive in Canada on December 1

Paramount Global’s Pluto TV has officially set its launch date in Canada for December 1, Pluto TV and Corus announced this week.

Corus will act as the ad sales representative for the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, as previously announced. And Pluto will offer a slate of Corus originals alongside international titles for Canadian viewers.

Corus original series include “Chopped Canada,” home improvement oriented “Love It or List It” and “Border Security,” which documents the work of Canadian border services officers.

As for international content, Pluto is making available procedural drama “NCIS” and its various spin-offs, both the classic and rebooted “Hawaii Five-O,” “Judge Judy” and more.

All told, Pluto plans to deliver over 100 curated channels and over 20,000 hours of content spanning a variety of genres. Channels available at launch will include:

·       Pluto TV Comedy

·       Pluto TV Drama

·       Pluto TV Action

·       The Asylum

·       Christmas 365

·       Thriller 365

Pluto has recently made grounds internationally, turning up service in the Nordics in May. There, it merged Pluto TV with local AVOD service Viafree.

“Our initial channel lineup further illustrates how we are working to combine Corus' incredible local content offering with Pluto TV's global content, to meet the tastes of the Canadian audience,” stated Olivier Jollet, EVP and international general manager of Pluto TV.

Jollet added he’s confident Pluto will become a destination for fans of curated content “as well as for clients and partners interested in investing in a new and unique streaming service upon its launch."

Subscriber-wise, Pluto TV counted 69.6 million monthly active users as of the end of June. Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra has said Paramount’s strategy with Pluto is bolstered by selling inventory across both programmatic and direct channels.

Paramount of late has also boosted its international expansion by launching Paramount+ in the U.K. and Ireland, South Korea and most recently Italy. The company in August appointed Pamela Kaufman to head international business across six continents.

Pluto isn’t the only FAST service making waves in Canada. Fox-owned Tubi teamed up with telco Shaw Communications to bring Tubi FAST channels via Shaw TV.

Prior to that, Tubi signed a distribution deal with the National Film Board of Canada to bring a collection of 29 documentaries to its on-demand platform in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.