• by Alex Weprin , April 8, 2019

The Viacom-owned ad-supported streaming video service Pluto TV has signed a deal with BBC Studios to bring a number of entertainment shows from the British broadcast studios library to the U.S. streaming market.

Pluto TV combines linear, curated streaming channels with on-demand offerings. The deal with BBC Studios encompasses both. It includes more than 700 hours of programming, across 1,000 episodes of shows.

For starters, episodes of "Being Erica,” “Bedlam," “Primeval” and “Robin Hood” will appear across Pluto TV’s channels. Also, the company will create two dedicated “pop-up” channels for “Doctor Who” and “Antique’s Roadshow,” bringing episodes to their own linear channels.

The programming from BBC Studios will launch on Pluto in in May.

The additional content from the BBC comes as Viacom seeks to beef up Pluto as a free streaming alternative to subscription offerings from Netflix, Hulu and others.

The company says Pluto will become a test-bed for its advanced advertising business and intends to use its existing brands and leverage to drive new content and revenue opportunities for the streaming service, which it acquired early this year for $340 million.