BBC Studios has launched BBC Player, its paid streaming service for viewers outside the UK, as a subscription channel on Amazon’s Prime Video in Spain and Poland. The service went live on Thursday 12 November, and Switzerland follows on 3 December. The deal extends an arrangement that already carries BBC Player on Prime Video in Germany and Austria. Prices were not disclosed.
In Spain and Poland, Prime Video becomes one more way to subscribe to a service that other platforms already sell. Switzerland is a new market for it. BBC Studios and Amazon said they plan to take the partnership to more territories.
Key facts
- Launch: BBC Player as a Prime Video channel in Spain and Poland from 12 November; Switzerland from 3 December
- Existing Prime Video markets: Germany and Austria
- Catalogue: more than 1,000 hours at launch, refreshed through the year, varying by market
- Reach: BBC Player is carried by platform partners in 10 markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to C21Media
- Next: live BBC channels inside BBC Player in Poland within months, and an airline version in early 2027
Several sellers in each market
The Prime Video deal adds a further outlet to platform deals BBC Studios has been building for four years, according to its own announcements. In Spain, BBC Player launched on Movistar Plus+ on 15 October 2025 with up to 700 hours of programming. BBC Studios’ release at the time called it an exclusive launch, and Movistar sells the advertising on BBC Studios’ channels and inside the service. A year later, Prime Video opens with more than 1,000 hours, although BBC Studios says hours and titles vary from country to country.
In Poland, BBC Player first launched on Canal+ in June 2022, then on the Play Now streaming service, and on CDA Premium in September 2024. C21Media also lists Vodafone among the service’s existing partners in the two markets. Within the first few months on Prime Video, Polish subscribers will be able to watch live streams of five BBC channels inside the service, a first for the market: BBC First, BBC Brit, BBC Earth, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies.
“Expanding the partnership with Prime Video is our next step in growing BBC Player across Europe,” said Arran Tindall, BBC Studios’ president for EMEA, global channels and streaming. He said the deal supported the company’s aim of building “a larger digital business alongside our existing linear channels”.
What is on it
The launch line-up differs by market. Luther, Father Brown, Death in Paradise and Top Gear are available in all three countries. Top of the Lake, with Elisabeth Moss, is among the launch dramas, while Boiling Point, the restaurant drama starring Stephen Graham, is on the Swiss service only. Poland also gets The Great British Bake Off, the natural history series Evolution and the children’s titles Supertato and Stan Can; Spain gets the documentary series Rise of the Nazis. BBC Studios said new series will premiere exclusively on BBC Player in Spain in 2027.
Amazon has been widening its European business on several fronts this autumn. Prime Video is behind new Hamilton films and series with Scanbox in the Nordics, and Amazon MGM Studios will release its own films in French cinemas from March 2027.
Our reading
BBC Studios is choosing reach over exclusivity. In Spain and Poland it now has several platforms selling the same branded service, each with a different catalogue, which suits a library business that earns from every subscription it can collect. For local platforms the lesson is less comfortable: a year after Movistar’s launch was billed as exclusive, the same brand is on sale through Amazon. For Prime Video, a channel costs nothing in programming risk and gives subscribers another catalogue to pay for. The next milestones are the live BBC channels in Poland, due within months, and the further territories the two companies say will follow.
Sources
- C21Media, BBC Studios takes BBC Player to Prime Video in Spain, Poland and Switzerland (12 November 2026)
- Advanced Television, BBC Player on Prime Video expands into more markets (12 November 2026; BBC Studios statement)
- BBC Media Centre, BBC Player to launch on Movistar Plus+ on 15th October (2025)
- BBC Media Centre, BBC Studios expands reach of BBC Player in Poland (30 August 2024)