ITVX is adding more than 2,000 hours of TLC and Quest programming under a new licensing deal with Warner Bros Discovery. The first TLC titles go live on October 1, turning a linear channel relaunch into an on-demand catalogue play.
WBD’s TLC became a free-to-air channel in the UK in January 2026 and is available on Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freely. The ITVX agreement extends that reach: WBD gets licensing value from proven unscripted and comedy brands, while ITVX adds volume without having to fund new commissions.
What lands when
- October 1: the first season of TLC’s revived Mock the Week, plus Dr Pimple Popper and The Bad Skin Clinic.
- Through the year: comedy series Zero Stars and Unacceptable, and titles from 90 Day Fiancé and Say Yes to the Dress.
- Later this year: a Quest-branded collection with Salvage Hunters, Shed & Buried, Vinnie Jones in the Country and Richard Hammond’s Workshop.
- 2027: the second series of Mock the Week and Unacceptable after their TLC runs.
Why it matters for AVOD
This is not a headline original. It is library depth, and it delivers two distinct audience profiles. TLC brings reality and local comedy; Quest brings male-skewing factual entertainment. For media planners, that means one supplier relationship produces inventory against both segments.
The chronology matters too. Mock the Week‘s second series began airing on TLC on September 13, and Unacceptable launches on TLC in November. Both are already scheduled to follow onto ITVX in 2027, giving advertisers longer planning windows around known titles rather than a single premiere spike.
WBD’s senior VP of content strategy and networks for the UK and Ireland, Graham Lafferty, said the mix of local comedy originals and global reality franchises “brings something to the platform for every user.” ITV’s director of channels, ITVX and acquisitions, Craig Morris, pointed to “brilliantly bingeable titles” supplementing ITV’s own programming.
What to do about it
- Treat the October TLC collection as an early test window for female-skewing unscripted placements.
- Prepare for the Quest collection later this year with a separate factual-entertainment plan.
- Use the 2027 titles as campaign extensions instead of single-date buys.
For streaming businesses, the takeaway is simpler: a free-to-air brand can become a marketing and reach engine, with library licensing as the second monetisation layer.
Source: C21media
