ITV3 to launch as free channel

net1

ITV golden oldies channel ITV3 is expected to launch on November 1 as a free service showcasing movies and classic dramas such as Coronation Street and Cold Feet.
The decision not to charge viewers comes after months of negotiations and ends speculation that it would be a pay-TV service along the same lines as E4.

ITV's chief executive, Charles Allen, is understood to have decided that the station - which is to target upmarket viewers over the age of 35 with repeats of drama classics such as Cold Feet, re-runs of Coronation Street and movies such as The Magnificent 7 - will be broadcast on Freeview, the new BSkyB free service Freesat, and cable.

Earlier this year Granada executives were locked in intensive talks with Sky about running the £12m-a-year station as a pay channel. The decision was a difficult choice for Mr Allen, who could have boosted ITV's coffers to the tune of £7m-10m in distribution fees from Sky if it launched as a pay service.

But as part of the deal Sky is understood to have wanted an equity stake in ITV3 - a deal Mr Allen was keen to avoid. The move will come as a blow to Sky, which would have preferred ITV3 to have helped grow its own pay-TV platform rather than free-to-air digital service Freeview.

If ITV makes the channel free it could make it less likely that the network will re-sign its £17m-a-year conditional access agreement with BSkyB. Currently ITV is the only commercial public service broadcaster not to have renewed the agreement, under which it pays Sky to encrypt a regionalised service.

When the channel launches it will act as a complementary service to digital station ITV2, which focuses on 16 to 34-year-olds with a diet of soap storyline extensions from Emmerdale and Coronation Street, Champions League football and extra helpings of reality TV hits such as I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.

ITV3 will focus on soap and entertainment repeats in daytime and high quality classics from the Carlton and Granada programme libraries such as Prime Suspect, Inspector Morse and Soldier, Soldier during peak hours.