ITV TO LAUNCH NEW CHANNEL
ITV's chief executive, Adam Crozier, has announced that a new pay TV channel, Encore, will be launching this summer. Showing original, newly-commissioned drama series such as Vera and Lucan, Encore is a joint venture with Sky. It will only be available to paying subscribers on Sky, NOW TV, Sky Go and Sky Store. Live streaming will be available on NOW TV and Sky GO.
It will show episodes from Downton Abbey and Broadchurch.
ITV is making a deliberate move away from heavy reliance on advertising towards a subscription-funded, Sky-dependent model.
In recent years, ITV has suffered badly from downturns in advertising. Encore is part of the plan to counter this. Additionally, there is a new deal to keep high definition versions of ITV 2, ITV 3 and ITV 4 in Sky's premium HD pack.
This means these three channels will not appear on Freesat for a number of years, if ever.
There were rumours that ITV 3 would close, but now it is intended to be a "gold" style drama re-run channel.
Premium Encore programmes will be available for rental on the Sky Store.
ITV Encore is likely to be on the Europe beam, in common with ITV's other encrypted HD channels, meaning easy reception all over Europe for those willing to pay.