A Royal-Themed Streaming Service Exists & A New Meghan & Harry Doc Is Coming
The face of television is changing. Back when I was a kid, people lamented the advent of cable and the proliferation of dozens of new stations. There was even a song: "57 Channels (And Nothing On)". But cable has nothing on what's happening now stand-alone streaming channels have begun to to proliferate. What was once the province of sports, with MLB.TV and the WWE Network, has now spread to HBO and CBS and beyond. Now there is a new royals-themed streaming service as well, one dedicated to bringing fans of the Windsors programming directly to them, 24/7.
The service first launched just over a month ago, on June 11, 2018. According to Deadline,
The SVOD platform is being launched by Nick Bullen, founder of British production company Spun Gold, which is a specialist in producing royal programming and has scored access to the royal family for a number of projects. He hopes to take advantage of the recent boom in royal programming after 29M people in the U.S. watched Prince Harry marry Suits actress Meghan Markle.
The titles currently available give viewers an idea of the sorts of things the service focuses on. Most of it concentrates on the current clan in Buckingham and Kensington Palaces. There's Prince Philip At 90, Meghan Markle: How To Be Royal, and The Duke and Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Photos of Their Love Story. But there are also pieces like The Last Dukes, which focuses on the those just below the royal family line and even some historical stuff, like Henry VII: Winter King.
Now that the service has been up for a month, they're ready to make a big push in the U.S. with a brand new in-house documentary (their first) called Meghan And Harry: The First 100 Days.
Once again, the story comes from Deadline:
According to the platform, which specializes in content about the UK royals, the film will 'chronicle the ups and downs, the fantasy and the reality' of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first three months of marriage and will feature 'the best connected royal insiders and historians plus icons from fashion and show business.'
From the sounds of it Gregor Angus, co-Founder & CEO of TrueRoyalty.tv, wants to become the Lifetime Channel but leaning more towards documentaries than made-for-TV movies.
As TrueRoyalty.tv’s first original commission, Meghan and Harry: The First 100 Days perfectly demonstrates our ambition to provide subscribers with exclusive, unparalleled access to the highest quality royal TV content. As well as commissioning more exclusive original programming, our growth strategy for TrueRoyalty.tv includes expanding our library of premium royal content around the world, extending our distribution footprint, launching in new markets and leveraging commercial partnerships with major brands.
The hour-long documentary will be available for all premium subscribers to the service, which now serves U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. No date was mentioned for the debut, but the 100-day mark for Meghan and Harry since their wedding on May 19 will be Aug. 27, 2018.
