Grey’s Anatomy Skips TVNZ for Disney+

Season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy will premiere exclusively on Disney+ this week – ahead of S17 ending its run on TVNZ 2.

It will stream weekly under the Star banner from Wednesday but it isn’t clear from the media release if there will be an immediate catch-up with US broadcasts (ABC will air episode four this week).

If it does continue to lag behind the US by four weeks, that will be a worse deal for fans than when TVNZ owned the rights: the broadcaster may have delayed the drama’s linear run but at least it streamed the series express from the US.

Losing Grey’s isn’t a blow for TVNZ, given the series hasn’t rated strongly in years and recently was pushed to late-night (10.25 Tuesdays, where the double-ep season finale will air next week).

Here’s the media release:

“GREY’S ANATOMY” SEASON 18 TO PREMIERE IN NEW ZEALAND EXCLUSIVELY ON DISNEY+ ON OCTOBER 20

Disney+ announced today that Season 18 of the award-winning medical drama series, “Grey’s Anatomy”, will premiere exclusively on Disney+ under the Star banner, on October 20 in New Zealand.

Recipient of the 2007 Golden Globe® Award for Best Drama Television Series and nominated for multiple Emmys®, including Outstanding Drama Series, “Grey’s Anatomy” is considered one of the great television shows of our time. The high-intensity medical drama, now in its 18th season, follows Meredith Grey and the team of doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial who are faced with life-or-death decisions daily. They seek comfort from one another, and, at times, more than just friendship. Together they discover that neither medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white.

“Grey’s Anatomy” stars Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey, James Pickens Jr. as Richard Webber, Kevin McKidd as Owen Hunt, Kim Raver as Teddy Altman, Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson, Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd, Kelly McCreary as Maggie Pierce, Chris Carmack as Atticus “Link” Lincoln, Jake Borelli as Levi Schmitt, Richard Flood as Cormac Hayes and Anthony Hill as Winston Ndugu.

The series was created and is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes (“Scandal,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Station 19”). Betsy Beers (“Scandal,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Station 19”), Mark Gordon (“Saving Private Ryan”), Krista Vernoff (“Shameless”), Debbie Allen, Zoanne Clack and Meg Marinis are executive producers. “Grey’s Anatomy” is produced by ABC Signature, one of the Disney Television Studios.