12th Feb 2014 10:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - ITV PLC said Wednesday said it will be targeting a younger female audience with a new free-to-air channel called ITVBe that it hopes to launch towards the end of 2014.
The new channel will be the exclusive home of ITV's popular series "The Only Way is Essex" and will also feature lifestyle and reality programming from the UK and US, the broadcaster said in a statement.
"ITVBe will be a terrific new addition to our family of channels," said Chief Executive Adam Crozier in a statement. "It reinforces our plan to maximise audiences and revenues from our broadcasting business."
"ITVBe will complement ITV2 which will continue to strengthen its position as the home of entertainment for 16-34 year olds, focusing on scripted series, panel shows and formats, and commissions and acquisitions skewed towards the youth audience," the company added.
ITVBe will join recently announced new drama channel ITV Encore, developed as part of ITV's four-year partnership with British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.
The new channel will be available on all the UK's major broadcasting platforms including Freeview, Sky and Virgin. It will be funded by advertising and sponsorship.
Shares in ITV were trading down 0.3% at 205.34 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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