Bravo Joining Channel Lineup Of Low-Cost Pay-TV Service Philo

NBCUniversal and Philo have reached a carriage deal adding Bravo to the low-cost pay-TV operator’s lineup. Along with the network home of reality franchises like The Real Housewives and Below Deck, the agreement will also bring a selection of NBCU FAST channels to Philo, the companies said. Philo, which carries more than 70 linear channels focused on entertainment and lifestyle programming, offers a $25-a-month subscription plan as well as a $33 tier that includes HBO Max, AMC+, Discovery+ and All Reality. (Virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV are more than twice the price because they also carry more expensive news and sports fare.) After operating for several years as a targeted service on college campuses, Philo became a general consumer offering in 2017. Bravo will begin as a live channel, with on-demand programming to follow at a later date. Watch on Deadline As of last year, Philo reported having 1.3 million subscribers, a 20% increase over 2024 levels. It also said it had annual revenue of $450 million. In the wake of Disney’s acquisition of Fubo and Roku’s takeover of Frndly over the past couple of years, the company is the lone scaled independent, scaled streaming bundle provider. In an interview with Deadline about the Bravo deal, Philo CEO Mike Keyserling declined to offer an update on subscribers or revenue. He said the carriage agreement had been in the works for some time. “If you look at our lineup, which is definitely heavy with reality and lifestyle content, it’s definitely been a missing piece,” he said. “We’ve wanted to launch it for a long time. We just had to wait for things to align in a certain way.” NBCU’s increased willingness to strike innovative distribution deals, as they recently did with Google and YouTube, played a role in the deal, the exec added. About half of Philo subscribers identify reality TV as their primary genre, the company says, and nearly 85% of active subscribers watch reality fare on the service. “At NBCUniversal, we’re focused on reaching consumers how and where they want to consume our content,” said Amy Geary, EVP, NBCUniversal Platform Distribution & Partnerships. “We’re excited that Philo subscribers will be able to enjoy all of the amazing Bravo shows that dominate pop culture.”