ITV Encore moving to On Demand

IIRC, according to someone over at DS - Sky approached ITV for the launch of Encore, providing a prime EPG slot, carriage and 50% of playout costs, in exchange for inclusion in the paywall and Sky exclusivity.

So do we know that ITV didn't buy the slot? Sky were doing lots of "swapsies" at the time they removed Bravo and Channel One etc, and bumped quite a few other broadcasters up the EPG at the time, but I bet it wasn't free . Universal, Comedy Central and SyFy also got a "promotion" ISTR.

Sky closed Bravo and Channel One in early 2011, more than 3 years before ITV Encore launched. It's like saying ITV Encore's 2014 launch is relevant to any channel strategy they have today.

The EPG slot for ITV Encore was part of a bigger deal, as they negotiated carriage for ITV 2, 3 and 4 in HD and added ITV content to On Demand. Personally it appeared to me at launch that ITV Encore was essentially a Sky channel but with ITV branding and content.

My apologies, dvboy, I stand corrected.


I had thought (without checking) that this all happened at the same time.

There were a lot of EPG adjustments at the time with the arrival of so many more HD channels, and with the "HD Swap", it was difficult to keep track of what was purchased and what was simply an HD move.

I suppose if this is the case, Sky have now got back a rather juicy high position on their EPG.

Well it will be closed in time for the big EPG changes next year, so expect something new to launch there or a channel to get a nice bump up to 122. Perhaps they'll bring Sky 2 higher up again or try out a new Sky Bravo channel that was rumoured a while back?

I don't think Sky Two will get back into such a prominent EPG slot. Low priority for Sky.

Besides, with the massive clearout of timeshifts and SD/HD simulcasts, a good chunk of channels will benefit from the reshuffle, including Sky Two.

No doubt when Encore is closed next spring; Sky will more likely use EPG 123 for either Challenge or Pick, the next furthest Sky channels on the Sky EPG.

Alternatively, it might as well do the same method of selling slots to another broadcaster, as they did back in February 2011, when they had a deluge of slots freed up from the closures of Bravo and Channel One.

The vast majority of ITV Encore content, everything except the bits of new stuff, is already available on Virgin Media under the ITV Collections brand, so I expect a simple re-branding is all that is needed there.

Seemingly the idea was yet another attempt to create a British HBO with glossy dramas, both original programming and repeats, that would appeal to a younger and more upmarket audience. But I never understood the point of it, really, because people are happy enough to watch these programmes on ITV anyway. And if they wanted to appeal to a new audience who wouldn't usually touch ITV with a bargepole and weren't aware they were making shows like this (although I question how many of those there actually are, as I can't imagine people aren't aware that ITV made Cracker and Prime Suspect and hundreds of quality dramas), why did it have ITV in the name?

Also, I thought it was ridiculous they were repeating things like Heartbeat and Peak Practice during the day, which completely diluted the brand, those were so obviously ITV3 fare. It was just broadcasting for the sake of broadcasting. They'd have been better off not showing anything than showing that. It just meant the audience didn't have a clue what the point of the channel was.

From the couple of times I managed to see ITV Encore It was incredibly old Heartbeat too, not the more recent episodes ITV3 show, they were from the earliest series. Hardly modern, glossy drama is it?

Well, indeed, it just confused the proposition. It's like BBC4 going 24 hours a day and filling the extra hours with Homes Under The Hammer or something.

Sky have to be careful about unilaterally moving their own services into more desirable EPG slots - as they have to ensure neutrality in EPG positioning under Ofcom rules don't they?

Yes - but providing Sky owns the EPG slot they are free to move one of their own services to 123 when Encore closes.