Rakuten TV adds WaterBear
February 22, 2023
Streaming platform Rakuten TV has announced the addition of WaterBear, the free linear channel dedicated to the future of our planet. The channel us available on Rakuten TV in the UK, Ireland, Nordics and Netherlands effective immediately.
WaterBear features powerful stories from award-winning documentaries, enlightening short films and impactful series. Its content aims to bring the power of inspirational storytelling to today’s most critical issues to reach new audiences, educate, inspire and drive action. Serving as a ‘one-stop shop’ for sustainability content, its offering mainly focuses on 4 key themes: Biodiversity, Climate, Circularity and Community.
“WaterBear strives to tell stories about the SDGs and to transform them from words and icons into values that people can understand and appreciate,” commented Oliver Taprogge, WaterBear’s VP of Distribution. “We are thrilled to be working with Rakuten TV on the distribution of WaterBear’s FAST channel. This collaboration enables an even bigger audience to have access to WaterBear’s impact-led content. We could not think of a better synergy as the cornerstone of our growing coalition of distribution partners.”
“In our goal to bring the best entertainment to our viewers, we are very excited to launch the WaterBear channel and put sustainability under the spotlight,” added Cedric Dufour, CEO and President of Rakuten TV. “We are committed to offering our users great inspiring stories for their everyday life, and we know that WaterBear is a great partnership to make environmental issues available, for free, to over 140 million households across Europe.”
WaterBear’s highlighted content includes: The Breakdown which looks at all aspects of the climate and the ecological crisis; So Hot Right Now, a 4-minute ‘wisdom pill’ from the best in the business of fighting the climate crisis; The Pollinators, the story of the migration of billions of honey bees across the US, warning that the bees and our food supply are in danger; Roaring with Pride, about the programme to return Africa’s lion population back; Mother of the Sea, a film about a popular legend in the Inuit community; and Not A Pet, which looks at the illegal wildlife pet trade and the role social media plays in the parading and trading of exotic animals.