Friday, August 04, 2006

Channel 4’s answer to iPlayer … at what price?

As the BBC gear up with iPlayer as their (broadband) video on demand solution, Channel 4 are working on something similar.

Currently conducting market research to see how much us poor suckers will pay for downloading programmes, Channel 4 are expected to opt for a pricing model that differentiates between shows that date quickly (eg, daytime), premium drama (eg, Shameless) and films, rather than Apple’s one price fits all approach. It is unlikely that a free model, supported by advertising, will be adopted.

They may match or undercut the iTunes 79p per song download fee for non-premium material, while films could be priced between £1.50 and £3.50. This will only apply to UK programming covered under the recent Channel 4 PACT deal (which I didn’t post about, but was different to the BBC agreement with PACT). Other material, including much of the Film4 download service, will continue to be priced differently.

And in separate news, Channel 4 have halted their planned breakfast slot relaunch due to a shortfall in its programming budget. So the new series with puppets talking about current events due to be voiced by Danny Baker and Emma Kennedy will not go ahead until 2007 at the earliest. Instead you’ll have to tune in to Sky News or News 24 if you want to see puppets talking about the news ... boom boom ... a little cruel perhaps!

(VoD story from Broadcast)

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