ITV Buys Majority Stake in Nordic On-Demand Service Cirkus

LONDON: ITV has taken a majority stake in Cirkus, an on-demand service currently operating in the Nordic region.

Cirkus has deals with a number of major pay-TV operators in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. The service has distribution rights for a slew of British series, including Poldark, Shetland, Vera, Endeavour and Lewis, all of which are available to Nordic viewers via Cirkus.

Recently, Cirkus has begun to acquire program rights on an exclusive basis. It has already secured the exclusive on-demand rights for the latest seasons of the BBC hit police drama Line of Duty and the ITV production Victoria, a major new eight-part period drama that follows the early life of Queen Victoria.

Martin Goswami, ITV’s director of pay and distribution, said: “Cirkus is an important part of ITV’s international pay television distribution strategy. We look forward to accelerating the growth of the business through investment in exclusive content rights and supporting its development as it expands into new territories.”

Mark Bradford and Hugh Williams of Cirkus said: “ITV’s decision to step-up its investment is a tremendous vote of confidence for Cirkus. Being the Nordic on-demand TV business of one of Europe’s largest and most successful vertically integrated content and television businesses will strengthen our position in the market enormously.”