Telefónica’s pay-TV platform Movistar Plus+ has renewed its wide-ranging content alliance with Sony Pictures Entertainment, securing exclusive first-pay rights in Spain to the studio’s theatrical slate and restoring the AXN Movies linear channel to its line-up. The multi-year deal also keeps general-entertainment network AXN and a library of more than 100 series on demand, including Twisted Metal and High Country, available at no extra cost to the service’s 3.7 million subscribers.
Upcoming titles such as 28 Years Later, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Karate Kid: Legends will stream on Movistar Plus+ after cinemas and home video, extending a relationship that has run uninterrupted for 25 years. Mark Young, Sony Pictures Television’s EVP for distribution and networks in EMEA, called the extension “a benchmark in quality programming” and highlighted the strength of AXN’s procedural franchises The Good Doctor and S.W.A.T. in the Spanish market.
For Movistar Plus+ chief executive Daniel Domenjó—appointed in March during a management overhaul—the pact underpins a strategy to position the platform as “the home of cinema in Spain” while it trims original production budgets after the exit of long-time fiction boss Domingo Corral. Analysts note that maintaining Hollywood studio windows has become more pressing as U.S. streaming services expand Spanish originals and subscriber churn rises across local pay-TV.
Sony has taken a flexible approach to licensing in Europe, signing non-exclusive output agreements with regional operators—even as it launches branded FAST channels on ad-supported platforms—to maximise revenue ahead of its own streaming ambitions. Industry observers say the renewed Spanish accord mirrors similar multi-territory renewals in MENA and Latin America and reflects a wider comeback of studio channels on operator bundles after a wave of cord-cutting-driven rationalisation.
While financial terms were not disclosed, previous pay-one arrangements of this scale typically run three to five years and carry performance step-ups tied to box-office thresholds. In the near term, Movistar Plus+ will promote Sony’s summer tentpoles across its newly rebranded movie service Hits por M+ and the wider IPTV interface, aiming to capitalise on the resurgence of theatrical traffic and reinforce subscriber value as Spain’s pay-TV market confronts stiffer competition from low-cost streamers.
