Sky has made a modest investment into TV4 Entertainment and its growing portfolio of special interest TV channels.
The satcaster has sunk $300,000 (€284,000) into the LA-based channel developer that has distribution on platforms including Hulu, Amazon, Sony, Vimeo, YouTube and Roku.
Sky already has an investment in the Roku platform, which supplies boxes for its NOW TV and Sky Online OTT services.
TV4’s portfolio includes a dozen channels, reaching millions of unique users every month. It has more than 30 new channels in development. The current portfolio includes: DocComTV aimed at documentary devotees; All Warrior Network for fans of the warrior genre; Motorland, a video network for automotive enthusiasts; the Ultimate Champion Network which has programming for combat sports fans; and The Clarity Project, a channel exploring child illness.
TV4’s strategy has been to acquire and aggregate high-quality video content into recognisable channel brands. Through more than 200 content partners,
TV4 has licensed over 5,000 feature length and short form titles as well as many TV and web series.
Emma Lloyd, Director, Corporate Business Development, Sky, commented: “This exciting investment will help us develop our understanding of niche content genres and what audiences are most passionate about. We are committed to developing partnerships right across our business that support and extend our leadership position in content and innovation. We look forward to working with the team at TV4 Entertainment as they continue to grow.”
Other recent Sky investments include online sports network Whistle Sports, Pluto TV, the online video aggregator and the US ad tech firm Sharethrough.