Nine has obtained the rights to American soap operas Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless, which will be broadcast on multi-channel 9Gem and available on broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) platform 9Now.
Neither program has been broadcast on free-to-air TV in six years. Both Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless will return on Monday 9 September.
Days of our Lives is returning to free-to-air
Prior to the launch, 9Gem will be broadcasting five episodes for each program, catching viewers up on all of the necessary drama ahead of the new episodes. The catch-up episodes will begin airing on Monday the 2 September, and were available on 9Now from 31 August.
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Nine’s program director, Hamish Turner, said in a statement: “Both The Young and the Restless and Days of our Lives were a huge part of Nine’s daytime heritage for over 31 and 45 years respectively, and we’re excited to be bringing back the drama.
“We believe there will be solid audiences for these shows both on 9Gem and also on 9Now, where we expect to see Australians bingeing on these audience favourites online and in the process growing the user base of the platform.”
Days of our Lives has been running in the US for 50 years. The Young and the Restless is the US’ number one daytime drama and has been broadcast for the past 30 years.