The chicken sandwich wars are spilling into your living room.
Four years after Lifetime aired a fictional romance about KFC’s Colonel Sanders, Chick-Fil-A is reportedly planning to launch its own streaming service. A report from Deadline says the fast-food chain has been talking with production studios as it searches for a library of family-friendly content, as well as original programming.
The in-the-works service would reportedly lean heavily into unscripted content, including game shows. One, from the company behind NBC’s The Wall, has already been given a 10-episode order, Deadline says.
The new network could launch as soon as later this year.
Chick-Fil-A has dabbled in programming before, producing a series of animated films called Stories of Evergreen Hills, which focused on how acts of kindness can bring people together.
While the streamer plans to focus on family-friendly programming, the launch of a streaming service could be a tightrope-walking act for Chick-Fil-A. While its chicken sandwiches are phenomenally popular, the company itself has courted more than its share of controversy over the years because of its politics.
In 2012, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy characterized the U.S. as “inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and we say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.” That sparked a backlash that has not yet cooled down.
In 2019, the San Antonio district council approved a new concession agreement for the city’s airport that brought in more local establishments and specifically barred the chicken sandwich chain. At issue there was the donation of money by Chick-Fil-A to groups that have been accused of discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community.
