ITV is rumoured to be launching a paid TV service, and is expected to announce details tomorrow. The pay-TV strategy will affect ITV’s HD channels, which include HD versions of ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4, and might involve the roll out of a whole new channel.
Not so long ago, Archie Norman, former Asda chief, said: “Speculation we might take ITV 2, 3 or 4 onto a pay-tv platform is not realistic. Were we to develop a proposition in the pay-TV market we would need a very different product than we have at this time.”
But nevertheless, a pay-TV model would appear to be on its way. It’s thought to be a tactic designed to give the company a cash boost, as 2009 was a particularly bad year for ITV. Since then though, advertising has started to turn around, and profits are on the up.
The move probably has something to do with ITV’s new CEO Adam Crozier, who left Royal Mail back in January to move to ITV, pocketing £3.5million in bonuses and pension in the process, and Archie Norman, the ex-Asda chief, being shipped in as chairman.
What a new channel might look like we cannot bring ourselves to imagine, given the biggest successes of ITV’s current offerings generally involve Simon Cowell.
What do you think? Is ITV shooting itself in the foot with a charging scheme or could raised revenues up the quality of its offerings?
