ITV Encore coming June 2014

Didn't they plan to do this years ago with ITV2/3/4 - quietly make them basic tier subscription channels on Sky, on the grounds that they'd get additional subscription revenue but hardly anyone would notice they'd gone pay as at the time almost all satellite viewing was done by paying Sky customers who would have at least a basic subscription which would include the channels?


For whatever reason, they decided not to go ahead with that plan back then, surely there's an even weaker case to do it now when there is a sizeable number of people watching on Freesat who won't be able to get the channel. If they were trying to launch a premium channel then maybe (but there's no way I can see this being a premium channel given the archive nature of it's content), but a basic tier channel? Surely the advertising revenue from the extra couple of million viewers they'd get on Freesat (viewers who are more likely to watch it in the absence of a lot of choice on that platform) would eclipse the small share of a basic tier Sky subscription they'd get? I can't even see Sky giving them a particularly good deal or EPG position - somehow I can't see people banging Sky's door down in order to sign up because ITV Encore is coming to the platform.


So maybe make ITV3 a bit more like Granada Plus was? On the plus side (no pun intended) that could well be a good thing, there's a lot of great archive content which hasn't seen the light of day since they went (like the classic Coronation Street, LWT dramas other than Poirot etc etc). Would be nice to see it getting a dusting down again.

I don't see the point of it. ITV3 is ITV Encore.

Any new commissions would be better off on ITV.

It would be good if ITV3 showed other things apart from poirot and midsomer murders etc. But ITV4 already show some
Older shows like the saint, the professionals, perhaps ITV3 needs to focus less on the detective shows? More comedy?

The name ITV Encore is a bit strange if they say it will also have new commissions.

Worth noting on that press release that ITV Player is coming to Sky Go and NOW TV, pretty much the last of the big terrestrial on demand services to be added to NOW TV, and I presume the same with Sky Go.

Also, the Guardian and a few others are reporting that it will launch this summer with the new content starting in 2015.

EDIT: And the press release says that, so I think we can safely say summer rather than 2015.

I wonder if like I think someone else has said, it will be a little like Sky Atlantic. They will showcase top quality british drama, and also import high quality US drama. ITV don't show many US shows at the minute. I know there is a lot of competition for the big US shows, but if they got in early with some new shows it could work.

I hope this is the start of the ITV numbered channels having proper names.

What is wrong with ITV 2, 3 & 4? I don't get why people always want random names like "ITV Classics" "ITV Men" etc etc.

Personally I've always preferred named channels rather than numbered, and now with the 1 gone from the big sister, it makes the others sit a bit awkwardly to me.

And also, they wouldn't be 'random' names if they reflected the identity of the channel.

I totally agree.

Channel numbering as a branding device works incredibly well for several of the BBC services so no reason why it can't continue to work for ITV. Although personally, I think it would have made more sense for them to have maintained ITV1 given the continued existence of ITV2, 3 and 4. But probably best not to open up that can of worms again.

I'm not sure Sky would pay. I remember reading that Channel 4 lost their subscription revenue for E4 as soon as they added the channels to Freeview (sometime before they went FTV/FTA on Sky); but then even now that half(ish) of UKTV's output is on Freeview the whole lot is behind a paywall on Sky.

I think the rumour came about as a result of some surveys Sky put asking whether certain packages would be appealing (including some ITV stuff).