Miguel Penella RLJ Entertainment
Until now, Acorn TV was only present in the US (since 2012) and Canada, where they already have around a million subscribers and are now betting on international expansion.
“International expansion is very important for us: first, because regarding the programs we acquire, most of the expense is for the US and North America, so international expansion is a normal step. We produce 30 to 40% of our content. Our idea is to launch first in Mexico because it is a market that is very close to the US” expressed Miguel Penella, CEO of RLJ Entertainment, matrix company of Acorn TV.
Penella highlights that they launched Acorn TV on Roku TV, on Apple, and on Android last week and that in the upcoming two or three months, they will offer it worldwide.
“At first, we are going to offer Acorn TV in English with subtitles or in Spanish, but the programming will be in its original language. We have a lot of programs from England, and between 5 and 10% are from Ireland, Australia, and Canada. While in the US we have almost 3 thousand hours of content, at an international scope, we will start with around 300-400 hours, mainly of new programming. In the US, we launched 200 hours of new content per year. For us, subscriber engagement every week is very important,” he explains.
Penella added that they are also in conversations with platforms in Mexico to integrate their grids like they have done in the US with other operators. “First, we are going direct to consumer, but we are also open to integrate any platform who wants us to. In the US we are on Amazon and on Comcast,” he added.
