Sinclair's Circa Expanding to Europe With SVOD Channels

Circa, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s millennial-focused digital news brand, Monday announced it will be expanding internationally with a series of SVOD channels.

The roll out will begin with channels in Europe in Spring 2017 under a partnership with Ownzones Media Network—an OTT tech, distribution and content company—Circa said.

The channels will be available on desktop, mobile and big-screen TV. They will air original short and long-form content including breaking news, documentaries, lifestyle and humor.

Sinclair relit the brand Circa in July 2016 (the original shut down in 2015 when it ran out of cash). Its content has reached 1.6 billion on digital and social platforms and generated more than 520 million video streams, according to Google Analytics and Facebook Insights provided by Circa.

Sinclair is one of a growing number of broadcast groups that are trying to reach millennials by buying and building news sites that operate independently of their TV stations. E.W. Scripps owns Newsy, as well as the humor brand Cracked. Last August, Univision bought Gawker for $135 million, to go with existing properties like The Onion.