Virgin Media offers free catch up of ITV shows
- Added:
- Jan 08, 2009
ITV has signed its largest ever syndication deal with Virgin Media, giving viewers on-demand access to popular shows such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
The ‘ITV Player’ channel will give Virgin Media customers the chance to catch up on a selection of ITV shows that have been broadcast within the past week.
Virgin Media will also offer an archive service for ITV programmes aired over 6 months ago, from the broadcaster’s four main channels.
The 4 year deal gives ITV a fixed revenue share with its largest ever potential on demand audience.
Virgin Media’s 3.5 million TV customers able to view over 40 hours of programming from ITV1, 2, 3 and 4 each week.
In addition, Virgin Media and ITV have also agreed that Virgin Media TV subscribers will be able to watch ITV content online via their computers.
A selection of ITV’s High Definition (HD) programming will also be available on demand.
Malcolm Wall, CEO of Content at Virgin Media, said: “ITV makes some of the country’s most loved TV programmes so we’re delighted to be able to offer so many of them to our customers. We already have the largest and best collection of entertainment available on demand and adding this vast amount of quality content will make our TV offering even more compelling.”
Ben McOwen Wilson, Director of Online at ITV, said: “Our ambition is make our content as widely available for audiences. We are thrilled to be announcing this deal with Virgin Media at a very exciting time for ITV.
"We know Virgin Media’s customers consume a lot of content on demand, and we are confident that with the massive appetite and growth of on demand content across our online sites during 2008 this deal will allow a new wave of viewers to enjoy our content; in a time when the way our audiences watch TV continues to transform.”
The move follows a similar deal stuck between the BBC and Virgin Media last year, which gives viewers access to the broadcaster’s iPLayer on-demand catch-up service.