New Pay-TV Channel for ITV

LONDON: ITV is launching its first new channel brand in eight years, with ITV Encore set to roll out on Sky, delivering the commercial broadcaster's top recent drama series as well as its own original commissions.

The ITV Encore rollout is part of a broader four-year partnership with Sky that will bring ITV content to Sky+HD, Sky Go, NOW TV and Sky Store. ITV Encore will feature recent ITV drama output, and beginning in 2015 will also commission original productions.

Announcing the launch, Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV, said, “A key part of our strategy is to become the most watched, most loved and most talked about family of free and pay channels for every household and every advertiser in the U.K. ITV’s brilliant dramas contributed to a fantastic on-screen performance last year—we had three out of the top five dramas in 2013, which helped us increase our share of viewing on the main channel for the first time in a decade. The time is absolutely right to build on our successful partnership with Sky with the launch of ITV Encore, which will be an important part of ITV’s family of channels, and will complement ITV3, home to our long-running, classic drama series.  ITV Encore is right in line with our strategy of growing non-advertising revenues while at the same time creating even greater opportunities to showcase new drama.”

Jeremy Darroch, Sky's chief executive, added, “Our customers love great drama and so we are delighted to bring them exclusive access to a new channel from one of the best-loved brands in TV. The wider availability of ITV programs on our fast-growing connected TV services, including Sky Go, Sky Store and NOW TV, will make Sky stand out as a great place to enjoy ITV, on multiple devices, both at home and on the go. This is good news for Sky customers and a positive way for us to work with ITV in a broad, mutually beneficial partnership.”