Grade hints at content-sharing deals with YouTube and Hulu
ITV’s outgoing chief executive Sir Michael Grade said the broadcaster is likely to agree content-sharing deals with YouTube and Hulu.
Speaking to the House of Lords Communications Committee yesterday, Grade said US companies will strike deals with UK broadcasters off the back of the Competition Commission’s decision to block Project Kangaroo.
He said the Commission’s ruling against Kangaroo, the joint VoD venture between ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide, was a huge mistake and has made way for US broadcasters to launch similar video-on-demand offerings in the UK.
“As a result of the Competition Commission turning down the decision to launch Project Kangaroo, I guarantee an American company will take the lion’s share of our content in the UK very soon,” Grade said. “UK creative money will go to the Americans and not get reinvested in the UK.”
On Tuesday, reports suggested that YouTube is gearing up to launch its ad-funded VoD content offer next month, ahead of Hulu’s planned launch next year.
The Google-owned site is believed to be in advanced talks with ITV, as well as Channel 4 and Five, about the possibility of hosting full programmes on the video-sharing site, in a similar way to it has done in the US.