Channel 5 has announced a major shake-up of its brand and services, set to take effect in early 2025. Following the recent one-letter renaming trend, both the TV channel and its streaming service, My5, will be rebranded under a single, streamlined name: ‘5’.
This change comes alongside the somewhat surprising cancellation of Channel 5’s previously announced plans to merge My5 with Pluto TV, another free, ad-supported streaming service owned by Channel 5’s parent company, Paramount Global.
Instead of combining forces with Pluto TV, Channel 5 will revamp its streaming service – not just by changing the name, but also by updating its user interface, and adding more content from Paramount’s brands, including MTV, CBS and even Paramount+.
This move comes hot on the heels of similar rebranding efforts by other British TV giants, such as All4 becoming Channel 4 and UKTV Play becoming U. Now, Channel 5 is following suit.
The Merger That Wasn’t: My5 and Pluto TV’s Cancelled Union
Back in November 2023, we reported on Paramount Global’s plans to merge Channel 5’s video-on-demand platform, My5, with the free ad-supported streaming service, Pluto TV.
The move promised to offer viewers a comprehensive range of content, including popular local shows from Channel 5, an extensive on-demand library, and curated Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channels from Pluto TV – all within a single app.
My5, launched initially as a catch-up service for Channel 5’s content, has grown over the years to include an extensive library of on-demand programming from the channel’s family of networks, including 5STAR, 5USA, 5SELECT, and 5Action.
My5 is one of the only primary streaming services that doesn’t have a paid “Plus” tier that removes the adverts – therefore, it has always been a free, ad-supported streaming service – even before the term became popular (similar to the original ITV Hub and 4oD).
Pluto TV, on the other hand, entered the UK market in late 2018, offering over 100 curated channels covering a wide range of interests.
As a free, ad-supported service, it quickly found its footing in the growing ad-supported TV market, alongside direct competitors like Amazon’s Freevee and the recently re-launched Tubi.
With both Channel 5 and Pluto TV being owned by Paramount Global, The proposed merger was seen as a significant move to consolidate these offerings, leveraging Pluto TV’s technology and Channel 5’s content to create a larger platform.
However, as we now know, these plans have now been shelved in favour of a different approach.
Goodbye ‘Channel 5’, Hello ‘5’
Instead of merging with Pluto TV, Channel 5 is now taking a step to unify its brand across all platforms. The rebranding to ‘5’ will encompass both the linear channel and the streaming service, effectively retiring the ‘My5’ name.
Set to launch in Q1 2025, the new ‘5’ streaming service will get a “new and improved” user interface to enhance user experience.
‘5’ will also feature a significantly expanded content offer to complement Channel 5’s dramas and unscripted programmes.
This will include premium content from across the wider Paramount family, spanning reality, drama, factual films and true crime shows from MTV Entertainment Studios, CBS, and Comedy Central.
‘5’ will also include selected content from Paramount+, giving viewers the opportunity to “sample” its TV shows (as we’ve seen before – for example, when Halo aired on Channel 5).
There will also be a section dedicated to kids and families from Milkshake! and Nickelodeon – as well as new box sets from additional content partners.
According to Sarah Rose, President of Channel 5 and UK Regional Lead for Paramount, the move comes in response to record growth in My5 viewing over the past three years.
“As more of our audience discover streaming, we think it’s the right time to have a much closer relationship between our linear and streaming services,” Rose explained.
Ben Frow, Paramount UK’s Chief Content Officer, highlighted the potential of Channel 5’s content in the streaming world.
“We know from the success that so many of our Channel 5 shows have had on Netflix that there’s a huge appetite for our content in the streaming world,” Frow stated.
He promised that the new ‘5’ streaming service would be “a much bigger and broader offer than My5 with a significantly expanded range of content including new series and box sets in reality, drama, factual and kids from across the Paramount family.”
And as is the norm these days, ‘5’ will also introduce specially curated FAST channels (linear channels the stream shows according to a predetermined schedule), marking the broadcaster’s first foray into this growing sector of the streaming market.
This move seems to incorporate some elements of the originally planned Pluto TV merger, albeit under a different banner.
The Rebranding Trend: 4, 5 & U
The decision to rebrand Channel 5 and My5 as simply ‘5’ follows a trend that’s been sweeping through British broadcasters in recent years.
However, this wave of rebranding efforts has not been without its critics, with many viewers expressing confusion over the new naming conventions.
In 2023, Channel 4 made headlines when it decided to rebrand its streaming service, All4, to… ‘Channel 4’. This change left many scratching their heads, wondering how to differentiate between the linear channel and its streaming counterpart.
The change was justified by Channel 4 as a response to audiences “increasingly no longer distinguish[ing] between digital and linear content”, but it’s debatable whether this has simplified or complicated matters for viewers.
More recently, UKTV announced its own rebranding initiative, when UKTV Play became simply ‘U’. This change extended to its free-to-air channels, which now incorporate the ‘U’ prefix (e.g., U&Dave, U&Drama).
While the intent of these changes was to create a more integrated viewer experience, this alphabet soup has confused some viewers.
And let’s not forget NOW TV, which dropped the ‘TV’ from its name in 2021 to become just ‘NOW’. Three years on, many viewers still refer to it as NOW TV.
And now (not NOW), we have Channel 5 joining the trend – with its upcoming transition to ‘5’.
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I don’t really understand the channel rebrands to be honest,
All4 to Channel 4, All4 was all of Channel 4 content in 1 place, I don’t know why that seems to be so complicated for anyone to understand that they felt they had to change the name.
UKTV rebrand to U, more complex/stupid, U seems less meaningful to me & they couldn’t rebrand to UTV because that’s going to cause confusion with what is/was an Irish TV channel, UKTV did what it said on the tin, UKTV content in 1 place, the marketing has tried to do a cutesy relationship thing but doesnt fully work. U & Dave, U & Drama, U & W, U & Yesterday, people are still going to call the channels Dave, Drama, W & Yesterday.
As for 5/Channel 5/My 5 the renaming doesn’t seem that bad, all that’s been done is the removal of the word My, but similar to All4, the name My 5 made sense, all of 5 in 1 place, 5 could mean anything, would calling it 5TV be an issue?.
Didn’t realise 5 was going to merge with Pluto, bit messy that although some 5 channels/content did feature or still feature on that anyway.
The new 5 app is going to have Pluto features such as fast channels?, ITVX (does anyone actually understand why theres an X after ITV for their service?, makes no sense to me) and I think possibly BBC do that already.
In that case what’s the future for Pluto in the UK?.
The new 5 app is going to have Paramount stuff?, but surely there’s the Paramount app for that?.
Conclusion for 5/Pluto/Paramount, most messy/complex out of all, surely at least 1 out the 3 has to go?, I guess this is what happens when you own too much huh?.
Conclusion for all, why change something that worked well to things that make no real sense/complicate/confuse etc.
I’ve always thought the BBC should drop the BBC and just call themselves just One and Two, to make them up to date.
Gotta keep the marketing people busy, eh!