Channel 4, the independent commercial broadcaster in UK, has launched among the most extensive online video services till date, thanks to it being able to sort out online revenue split with the creative community.
Its online VOD service is called 4OD, and allows users to watch all of C4’s commissioned TV content, for 30 days after broadcast, as will 1,000 hours of their archive, stretching back 24 years. Each TV show will cost 99p and for that it will be available for watching for two days, after which it will delete itself. Films will be Euro 1.99.
As an initial promo, it will be giving away two pieces of free content each week. The show will be without ads, though that is coming in April. Also coming in Feb, a subscription service.
Channel 4 did a deal with PACT, the trade body of the independent production companies, back in June this year to lay the ground for this service. It is expected that the BBC and ITV equivalent service will be coming out in 4-5 months, the story says.