The niche service aimed at the Queer community joins Samsung’s free smart TV platform and the Roku Channel in time for the Pride season.
Revry, the niche LGBTQ+ streaming network, has launched on Samsung TV Plus, the free smart TV video service delivering over 120 free channels to online viewers, and the Roku Channel.
Terms of the deal with Samsung TV Plus were not disclosed, but the distribution agreement allows The Revry Channel to reach millions of Samsung smart TV owners in time for the Pride season that starts in June. Revry offers original and licensed LGBTQ+-themed movies, TV series, music, podcasts, and news, and is now available on Samsung TV Plus Channel 1226 as a Hulu-style offering.
“Given Samsung’s massive reach, we now have the opportunity to touch a broader LGBTQ+ and allied audience through Samsung Smart TVs,” Damian Pelliccione, CEO and co-founder of Revry said in a statement. Revry is also launching Tuesday on the Roku Channel, a streaming platform that earns the bulk of its revenue from advertising.
"We're excited to be working with the world's first global Queer streaming network. As we enter Pride season, people will be able to easily access incredible LGBTQ+ programming from Revry right from the Roku Channel," Ashley Hovey, director of advertising VOD growth at Roku, said in a statement.
The user-friendly Samsung TV Plus service allows Samsung smart TV owners to navigate and view VOD channels via an internet connection. Revry is also available as a subscription-based, commercial-free streaming service for either $4.99 or $6.99 a-month.
Broadcast television and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have increasingly offered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-themed content and characters. But Revry as a niche streaming service offers Queer-themed originals like the Spanish-language docuseries The Category, about the underground ballroom scene in Mexico City, the comedy Sink Sank Sunk, starring Laura Linney, and the reality TV series Putting On.
Pelliccione added the LGBTQ+ community seeing themselves on screen was key to coming to terms with their identity and being supported. “We believe representation saves lives, so partnering with Samsung helps us bring our ‘radically inclusive’ entertainment to an even bigger audience, and gives us the chance to change hearts and minds, both inside and outside of the LGBTQ community," he said.
Revry is using a cloud-based video platform and channel creation software to launch its LGBTQ+ streamer on Samsung TV sets, where Samsung TV Plus has been available pre-installed since 2016.
Revry is currently available in over 225 million households and devices, and can be found on Comcast Xfinity X1, XUMO TV, Zapping TV, STIRR (Sinclair Broadcast Group) and TiVo+.
