ITV2 To Be Carried On NTL Franchises From September

ITV2’s distribution across UK digital cable will be complete from 8 September, when NTL’s digital customers in England and Wales will be added to the UK viewers able to receive the channel.

The channel, which says it now has close to 3 million subscribers, launched in December 1998 (see ITV2 Ready For Take-Off). It was initially available via ONdigital’s set top boxes and Cable and Wireless’ (CWC) analogue cable (see Cable & Wireless To Carry ITV2).

Later carriage deals were struck with Cable London (see ITV2 Signs Carriage Deal With Cable London) and Telewest (see ITV2 Gets Carriage Deal With Telewest). However, Sky customers still cannot receive either ITV or ITV2 through their Sky Digital service, as no carriage agreement has been reached between Sky and ITV. Last year Sky challenged ITV’s decision not to allow broadcasting of the channels on Sky Digital, but was told by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) that the situation was not anti-competitive (see BSkyB Fails To Gain Access To ITV2).

ITV2 transmits from 4pm to 2am on weekdays and from 9:25am to 2am on weekends. It will be available to NTL customers on channel 117 as part of the basic, entry level package. Carriage on the cable networks formerly owned by CWC will also continue as part of the deal.

ITV: 020 7843 8222 NTL: 01252 402 000