Disney+ and RTVE Reach Historic Agreement to Stream Spanish Public Content

Disney+ and Spain's public broadcaster RTVE have signed a strategic agreement that will bring a selection of the broadcaster's most popular programs to the streaming platform starting March 31, 2026. The deal marks a significant expansion of Disney+'s Spanish-language content catalog and gives RTVE a new distribution window to reach younger and more diverse audiences. Under the agreement, Disney+ will carry new seasons of flagship culinary competition shows MasterChef and MasterChef Celebrity, as well as upcoming fiction productions. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either party. The partnership takes effect in four days, with content becoming available on Disney+ the day after its initial broadcast on La 1.

RTVE becomes first European public broadcaster with next-day streaming deal The most notable aspect of the agreement is its immediacy: RTVE becomes the first public broadcaster in Europe to allow its programs to transfer to Disney+ the day after their first airing on free-to-air television, according to Variety. Disney+ already holds similar arrangements with other European broadcasters, including Atresmedia in Spain, ITVX in the United Kingdom, ARD and ZDF in Germany, and SIC in Portugal. However, none of those existing partnerships involve the same next-day transfer model that RTVE has now agreed to. The deal allows Disney to deepen its footprint in the Spanish market while offering RTVE a platform to extend the reach of its programming beyond traditional broadcast audiences. Karl Holmes, general director of Disney+ for the EMEA region, emphasized the broadcaster's cultural standing in Spain after the signing. „RTVE is a much-loved broadcaster among audiences in Spain, with a rich heritage of decades of incredible programs. Through this agreement, we are pleased to be able to bring some of the most popular and recognized formats on Spanish television to Disney+ customers.” — Karl Holmes via El País Holmes added that incorporating RTVE's programs into Disney+ strengthens the platform's ambition to enrich its service while giving greater visibility to creative talent across Spain.

MasterChef's 14th season leads the content lineup The centerpiece of the content agreement is MasterChef, one of Spain's most-watched culinary talent competitions, produced by RTVE in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia. Disney+ will premiere all 13 (episodes) — episodes in MasterChef Season 14 of the fourteenth season, which begins its new broadcast run on La 1 next Monday. The eleventh season of MasterChef Celebrity, comprising 12 episodes, will also be available on Disney+ shortly after each episode airs on La 1. The previous edition of MasterChef, its thirteenth season, concluded last July with Gabriela Hinojosa — daughter of the founder of Cortefiel, who entered the competition while pregnant with her third child — as the winner. That edition maintained an audience share of around 13 percent across the season, with its finale reaching 15.1 percent. The tenth edition of MasterChef Celebrity, broadcast a few months later, was won by presenter Mariló Montero.

MasterChef is one of the most enduring formats on Spanish public television, produced in collaboration with Shine Iberia under the Banijay Iberia umbrella. The thirteenth season of the anonymous-contestant version maintained audience figures consistent with the two preceding seasons, holding approximately a 13 percent share, while its finale drew 15.1 percent, according to El País. The show has run continuously across more than a decade, spawning the Celebrity spin-off that has similarly become a fixture of RTVE's prime-time schedule.

Fiction series 'Rojo sobre Blanco' also part of the deal Beyond unscripted formats, the agreement extends to fiction programming, with the new series Rojo sobre Blanco set to premiere on TVE before being added to the Disney+ catalog. The series is produced by Good Mood, a label under the Mediawan group, and stars Spanish actors Hugo Silva and María Hervás. No further details about the plot or release schedule for Rojo sobre Blanco were provided at the time of the announcement. RTVE and Disney+ indicated that additional productions beyond those already named would be announced at a later date. The deal represents a dual benefit for RTVE: it multiplies the reach of its flagship programs while securing a presence on one of the world's leading subscription streaming platforms. For Disney+, the partnership continues a broader European strategy of integrating popular local free-to-air content to complement its international catalog of films and series.

Spain: 2, Germany: 2, United Kingdom: 1, Portugal: 1