ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex gets a new home this year on ITVBe
ITV WILL launch a lifestyle and reality television channel, to become the exclusive home of ITV’s award-winning show The Only Way Is Essex, aimed at a younger female audience when it launches towards the end of 2014.
The new channel, called ITVBe, will be free on Freeview, Sky and Virgin, and will be supported by advertisements and sponsorships.
“It reinforces our plan to maximise audiences and revenues from our broadcasting business,” said ITV chief executive Adam Crozier.
“Alongside our recently announced new pay channel ITV Encore, this is another important step forward in our strategy to become the most watched, most loved and most talked about family of free and pay channels for every household and every advertiser in the UK,” added Crozier.
Last month ITV announced it would launch a new channel exclusively with pay-TV broadcaster Sky called ITV Encore, to show its library of top drama series from recent years as well as original content from 2015.