UKTV has inked a “landmark” deal with Virgin Media which gives the cable company more than 10, 000 hours of UKTV content across original series and US & UK acquisitions, including a wealth of programmes from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
The deal, which not only doubles the amount of content available on Virgin Media but also gives them access to more UKTV shows than any other pay TV platform in the UK, will also see the recently updated UKTV Play app launch on VM’s TiVo service.
UKTV only just recently re-designed UKTV Play – which serves as the on-demand hub for their free-to-air channels Dave, Yesterday, Really and Drama – as they are gearing up to launch the first ever marketing campaign for service.
“Virgin Media is one of our most valued customers and we’re delighted to have partnered with them to expand and enhance our pay TV offer in this way”, said Simon Michaelides, UKTV’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Virgin Media subscribers now have unique access to the most comprehensive on-demand offer from UKTV anywhere in the market. This step-change in the volume of on-demand content is part of our long term commitment to growth in pay TV and we look forward to expanding on this in the future.”
Some of the shows that will now be available to Virgin Media customers under this deal – through catch-up, box-sets and UKTV Play – include Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Taskmaster, Nev Calling India, Quantico, Only Fools & Horses, Sherlock, Wonders of the Solar System, Parks & Recreation, David Starkey’s Monarchy, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Murdoch Mysteries, The Strain, The Rebel, Rosewood, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, Marley’s Ghosts, Hoff the Record, Doctor Who, Luther, The Office, Death in Paradise and Blackadder.
“Throughout this year we’ve been expanding the fantastic range of on demand programming which lets our customers watch what they want, when they want”, added David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer for Virgin Media. “We’re delighted to be building on our leadership by giving our customers more UKTV shows than are available on any other platform. With the arrival of the UKTV Play app and the doubling of catch-up content our customers can access more of the entertainment they love in the way they want.”
