UKTV has signed its first direct agreement with the on demand service YouView.
As a result, it will provide seven-day catch-up services for its popular FTA channels Dave, Yesterday and Really.
UKTV has also noted significant growth across its network, with the entertainment-based channel Dave celebrating its second most successful week in its history last month, averaging a 1.64% share in week 22.
This was 45% up year-on-year and to date Dave has improved its audience share by 17% (2013, week 1-22).
UKTV has also developed its YouView app with Capablue and YouView catch-up services for Yesterday and Really will launch by the end of this year.
Commenting on the YouView deal, Darren Childs, UKTV CEO, said: The UKTV network currently reaches over 42 million viewers a month and this agreement with YouView will make our award-winning programmes and channel brands available to even more viewers. Providing a catch-up service for our free-to-air channels on YouView is an important step for us, ensuring we give viewers the ‘anytime, anywhere’ access to our channels and programming that they want.”
Richard Halton, YouView CEO, added: “We are pleased to welcome UKTV to our collection of on demand TV players. YouView is currently the fastest growing TV platform in the UK and we know that offering quality on demand content, from iconic channels such as Dave, Really and Yesterday, is key to giving our customers a great TV experience and makes our scroll back programme guide even more compelling.”
