UKTV signs landmark agreement with YouView

Multi-award winning media company, UKTV, has signed its first direct agreement with on demand TV service YouView to provide seven day catch-up services for its popular free-to-air channels Dave, Yesterday and Really.

The agreement marks the first time UKTV has offered a catch-up service that is purpose-built for TV.

UKTV's home of witty banter, Dave will be the first of its free-to-air channels to launch a seven day catch-up service in July with programming accessible through a Dave-branded on demand portal and through YouView's scroll back programme guide. This is the first time that UKTV will provide a service to viewers directly through YouView and hit shows such as Dara O Briain: School of Hard Sums, Ross Noble's Freewheeling, Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish, Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask, Storage Hunters, Lizard Lick Towing, and Russell Howard's Good News will be available to all YouView customers.

UKTV is also celebrating significant growth across the network. It was the fastest growing commercial broadcaster in Britain last year and its entertainment channel Dave celebrated its second most successful week in the channel's history last month, averaging a 1.64% share in week 22. This is up 45% (year-on-year) and to date, Dave has improved its share of audience by 17% (2013, weeks 1-22).

UKTV developed its YouView app with Capablue. YouView catch-up services for Yesterday and Really will launch by the end of the year.

UKTV's CEO, Darren Childs commented The UKTV network currently reaches over 42 million viewers a month and this agreement with YouView will make our award-winning programmes and channel brands available to even more viewers. Providing a catch-up service for our free-to-air channels on YouView is an important step for us, ensuring we give viewers the anytime, anywhere' access to our channels and programming that they want.

Richard Halton, CEO, YouView said We are pleased to welcome UKTV to our collection of on demand TV players. YouView is currently the fastest growing TV platform in the UK and we know that offering quality on demand content, from iconic channels such as Dave, Really and Yesterday, is key to giving our customers a great TV experience and makes our scroll back programme guide even more compelling.

The news follows the launch of UKTV's own On Demand services for its free-to-air channels late last year and UKTV's recent announcement of its fourth free-to-air channel which will launch on 8 July. Drama will air a diverse range of critically-acclaimed shows that have defined the landscape of British television and the channel will increase UKTV's broadcast reach and bolster its channel portfolio.

LINK:	http://www.youview.com/news/2013/06/25/uktv-signs-landmark-agreement-w...
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