Channel 4 To Quadruple Online Investment

Channel 4 has unveiled plans to spend £15 million on online investments during 2000. Six new online businesses are to be launched including a comprehensive film site supporting FilmFour, an entertainment portal linked to planned entertainment channel E4, a horse racing site, and a series of linked educational sites.

The first launch, however, will be a gay and lesbian lifestyle portal, out4life.com. It will go live in February and aims to be the most comprehensive and user-friendly gay resource internet site in the UK. Sourcing news, entertainment, listings and financial advice, content will be supplied by Gay Times, Diva and the Press Association.

A new interactive department has been formed by the channel to manage the new developments. Headed by Andy Anson, it will take over C4’s existing and planned net ventures and develop interactive TV content in a variety of areas including entertainment and education.

Anson said: “We have one of the strongest and best known brands in the media marketplace and our strategy is to extend that brand and our programming reputations onto new media platforms. Like Channel 4 itself, our internet strategy combines public service with a keen sense of commercial reality and hence the majority of these businesses will be seeking to generate revenues through e-commerce.”

Channel 4’s existing website www.channel4.com (above) is to be relaunched as part of the plans.

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444