Rotten Tomatoes is continuing on its quest to grow into something substantially bigger than its Tomatometer movie and TV rating scores.
On Tuesday, the website — owned by NBCUniversal’s Fandango — expands its entertainment footprint with the launch of The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, a new over-the-top streaming service that will initially debut on on The Roku Channel. The OTT service will then come to NBCU’s Peacock platform and Comcast-owned Xumo, with other distribution deals in the works including with internet pay-TV providers, according to Fandango.
The first 24-hour linear video channel from Rotten Tomatoes will loop about 100 hours of premium programming around the clock on the channel, culled from RT’s stable or original shows.
With the launch of The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, Fandango wants to expand its audience reach and provide new entry-points into the entire Fandango ecosystem (i.e., to push movie tickets and digital sales or rentals).
Some of the shows on The Rotten Tomatoes Channel will include “Countdown,” a show discussing the best upcoming movies and shows according to the Tomatometer and panelists; “The Vault,” a nostalgic look back at star interviews, red carpet chats, games and more from the Rotten Tomatoes archives; “Trailers Reloaded,” recapping the biggest movies and shows with an extensive collection of trailers; and “Rotten Tomatoes Essentials,” a look back at movies, shows, stars and directors that defined genres and eras.
Others in the mix are set to include “Versus,” which uses Tomatometer scores, box office data and other metrics to settle the biggest movie and TV debates of all time; “Oral History,” covering films, shows and franchises from the people who made them; and “Aftershow” (pictured above), in which movie lovers, critics, and industry experts debate some of the biggest movies of recent times.
Fandango acquired the reviews-aggregation site in 2016 from Warner Bros., which retains a 25% stake in Rotten Tomatoes.
In recent years, Rotten Tomatoes — under fire for a lack of diversity in the critics it uses to compile scores — has continued to revised its system in an effort to create a more inclusive pool of critics.