Virgin Media O2 UK and ITV Sign New TV Partnership Deal

Broadcaster ITV and broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) have today signed a new 5-year commercial partnership, which will deliver “deeper integration” of ITV’s programming, IPTV rights and features into the operator’s future IPTV based Pay TV products. As well as enabling customers to maintain access to ITV’s content.

At this point it’s easy to forget that VM and ITV had a bust-up in 2018 after the two were unable to reach a similar agreement (here), which resulted in ITV allegedly threatening to pull their channels from the platform. The situation was eventually settled, and today it looks like the latest agreement was secured without any similar fireworks.

The new agreement includes full integration of the ITV Hub platform onto Virgin’s TV set-top boxes, which will enable viewers to seamlessly search for and watch all of ITV’s growing selection of programmes (these will also be given “enhanced prominence across all Virgin TV interfaces“). A range of new features, including programme start over and cloud recording, will also be introduced for some Virgin TV customers in future.

In addition, ITV’s live channels and the ITV Hub will also be available through Virgin TV’s upcoming IPTV (streaming) service when it fully launches in early 2022 (see details) – the service aims to offer a seamless app and streaming-based experience. Building further upon the benefits to advertisers under this agreement, ITV will also be able to offer linear addressable advertising via IP delivery through the Planet V platform.

Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, said:

“This extended and enhanced commercial agreement brings benefits to both ITV’s viewers and advertisers and the work that Virgin Media O2 is doing to develop its IP proposition advantages both those groups.

As Planet V continues to grow at scale, we’re able to deliver addressable advertising via the fully integrated ITV Hub on the great platform that Virgin Media O2 continues to evolve via both on-demand and linear viewing. Plus our viewers are able to access ITV’s fantastic range of programming more easily than ever before with an enhanced viewing experience.”

Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said:

“We have been a longstanding partner of ITV for many years and this new agreement further cements our relationship. It paves the way for future product innovation and delivers more for our customers and our business, as well as enhancing the toolkit available to advertisers.

Our focus in TV is all about providing incredible entertainment to our customers in a seamless way underpinned by the very best connectivity. As we continue to invest and innovate, having ITV’s vast selection of must-watch programming fully integrated and easily accessible plays a huge part in giving our customers a fantastic experience both now and in the future.”

End.