BBC, ITV Sign Landmark Streaming Deals With Sky

LONDON – The BBC and ITV have signed landmark deals with BSkyB allowing their catch-up services to be carried on the Sky platform and be available in millions of homes for the first time.

The deals come as Sky prepares to take on rivals including Netflix, which streams content to a variety platforms, and is on a content landgrab ot its own.

BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch said that the deals with the BBC and ITV ensured additional content to Sky subscribers. Popular ITV shows such as Prime Suspect, Lewis and Cold Feet will be available from Feb. 1, while archive BBC content – including the likes of Doctor Who, Outnumbered and Top Gear will be available to Sky HD homes later this year, whatever their broadband connection.

Sky’s Anytime+ catch-up service is already in more than a million homes and has seen weekly increase by 80 percent in the three months to Dec. 31 2011. Free to Sky customers through their subscription, it offers on-demand access to packages of content from its own channels and partners including MTV, Discovery, FX, History, Disney, UK TV and National Geographic. 

“Sky Anytime+ will go from strength to strength in 2012,” pledged Darroch. “We are delighted that the addition of the BBC iPlayer and ITV Player will allow customers to also enjoy the best of terrestrial TV, whenever they want. We’re also delighted to be able to widen access to the service so that millions more Sky customers can enjoy the added flexibility it offers.”

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