NBCU-owned Rotten Tomatoes launches a streaming channel, currently available on The Roku Channel and which will later expand to Peacock and Comcast’s Xumo
Rotten Tomatoes is still working to become something far greater than just its Tomatometer ratings for movies and television.
The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, a new over-the-top streaming service, will first make its debut on The Roku Channel on Tuesday. The Rotten Tomatoes Channel is a new addition to the website, which is owned by NBCUniversal’s Fandango. NBCU’s Peacock platform and Comcast-owned Xumo will then provide the OTT service, and other distribution agreements, including those with internet pay-TV providers, are in the works, according to Fandango.
The first 24-hour linear video channel from Rotten Tomatoes will continuously stream around 100 hours of quality content, selected from RT’s library of produced or original series.
Fandango hopes to broaden its audience reach and offer new entry points into the whole Fandango ecosystem with the introduction of The Rotten Tomatoes Channel (i.e., to push movie tickets and digital sales or rentals).
The Rotten Tomatoes Channel will air a number of shows, such as “Countdown,” which will discuss the top upcoming films and television shows based on the Tomatometer and a panel of experts; “The Vault,” a nostalgic look back at star interviews, red carpet chats, games, and more from the Rotten Tomatoes archives; “Trailers Reloaded,” which will recap the biggest films and television shows with a large collection of trailers; and “Rotten Tomatoe
“Versus,” which uses Tomatometer ratings, box office figures, and other metrics to settle the biggest movie and TV debates of all time; “Oral History,” which examines movies, shows, and franchises from the perspectives of their creators; and “Aftershow” (shown above), in which moviegoers, critics, and industry insiders discuss some of the most significant films of recent memory.
Warner Bros. sold the reviews aggregation website to Fandango in 2016, however Warner Bros. still owns a 25% share in Rotten Tomatoes.
In recent years, Rotten Tomatoes has continued to make changes to its methodology in an effort to build a more diverse pool of reviewers in response to criticism over the lack of diversity in the critics it utilises to compute ratings.