UK’s broadcaster Channel 4 is going to offer much of its programming online for 30 days after transmission for 99p per episode. Current series such as Hollyoaks and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares will be available, alongside archived output from the network’s 24 years on air.
Channel 4 has also signed contracts with nearly 100 independent production companies, including Endemol, which makes Big Brother.
Each programme will “disappear” from users’ computers 48 hours after they start to watch it, though they can watch unlimited during that time frame.
Variety: Users initially will pay 99p ($1.88) to rent shows or $3.80 to buy them. Then, starting in February, subscribers can pay a monthly fee of $7.50 for the TV service, $9.50 for a film service—or $11.40 for a bundled package.
On hitch, though: The service, 4oD will launch minus some of C4’s most successful shows—most of the net’s high-profile U.S. acquisitions like “Friends,” “Frasier” and “Sex and the City”—because VOD rights agreements have not yet been struck with Hollywood.
Also, the network’s most popular import, “The Simpsons,” was unlikely ever to be featured as part of the VOD service because U.K. rights are shared with satellite player BSkyB.