ITV and Virgin Media sign on-demand deal

ITV has signed its largest ever syndication deal with Virgin Media today, giving Virgin’s viewers 8 days worth of catch-up shows and archive programming across ITV1, 2, 3 and 4.

The four year deal, which gives ITV a fixed revenue share, will allow Virgin customers to access popular ITV shows on-demand, such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Virgin Media plans to offer its 3.5 million strong subscriber base on-demand HD programmes as well as additional access via the internet as a result of the deal with ITV.

Virgin reported a significant 537 million total views of all on-demand programmes for the first nine months of 2008, which is an average of 45 million views each month in the third quarter, according to the cable broadcaster.

ITV has also experienced a significant increase in users for its on-demand offering, with its average number of plays per month more than doubling since the end of the first quarter of last year.

Ben McOwen Wilson, director of online at ITV, said: “Our ambition is to make our content as widely available for audiences. We are thrilled to be announcing this deal with Virgin Media at a very exciting time for ITV.

“We know Virgin Media’s customers consume a lot of content on demand, and we are confident that with the massive appetite and growth of on demand content across our online sites during 2008 this deal will allow a new wave of viewers to enjoy our content,” he added.

Malcolm Wall, CEO of content at Virgin Media, said: “ITV makes some of the country’s most loved TV programmes so we’re delighted to be able to offer so many of them to our customers.”

Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com