Channel 4 Launches FilmFour

Channel 4 has unveiled details of its new film subscription channel FilmFour. The new channel, which goes on air on Sunday 1 November, has the potential to reach an audience of 5 million people. Channel 4 is hoping for around 150,000 subscribers in the first year in order to break even over the next three or four years.

The project cost Channel 4 £30 million to set up, and will broadcast for 12 hours a day between 6pm and 6am. This will allow six or seven full-length films to be broadcast each evening.

To mark the launch Channel 4 will screen a week long selection of films from the station’s production arm. Films that will be shown during the week include Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Company of Wolves and Wish You Were Here, Bahji on the Beach and Four Weddings and a Funeral . FilmFour itself will kick off with the premiere of the Ewan McGregor film The Pillow Book, as well as The Usual Suspects.

Channel 4’s chief executive Michael Jackson said: “Just as Channel 4 has been throughout its 16 year history, so FilmFour will aim to be risky, nearer the knuckle, edgy and provocative. We want to give viewers greater freedom to see the best of modern independent cinema – films and director’s cuts that they will not see anywhere else on British television.”

FilmFour: 0171 734 9009/0171 306 6494