SCOTTISH broadcaster, STV, and YouTube have agreed a major content deal which will see STV make at least 2500 hours of content, both new and from the extensive STV archive, available for viewing via the YouTube video sharing website across the UK and internationally.
The ‘STV Player’ channel on YouTube will launch later this summer and will be found in the ‘TV Shows’ section on the YouTube website as well as on its own dedicated channel at www.youtube.com/stvplayer. Content will be delivered free of charge and on demand.
As part of the deal, a number of STV programmes will be available shortly after TV transmission as a ‘catch-up’ service, including new shows such as Lorraine Kelly’s Scotland’s Missing Mums and the second series of hit Australian drama, Underbelly.
STV favourites from its archive, including full length programmes and a rich variety of clips, will also be available, such as episodes of popular drama High Road; the Weir’s Way series; both series of cult drama, High Times; classic music programme, Thingummyjig; STV’s opening programme from 1957, This is Scotland; STV News at Six; selected highlights of historic Scottish football matches; plus many others.
STV is the third British broadcaster, after Channel 4 and Five, to make its catch-up service available via YouTube. The TV Shows section of YouTube will bring together more than 5,000 hours of full-length programming from its professional content partners.
Says Rob Woodward, chief executive of STV: “We’re thrilled to have entered into a strategic partnership with YouTube, making our content available to a wide audience across the UK and beyond. This deal forms an integral part of our STV Anywhere initiative ensuring that our content can be accessed by the widest possible audience. We’re confident that through the availability of high quality unique content, we will extend even further the popular STV brand and our strong range of programming delivered by the STV Player.”
The STV Player, which delivers on-demand free STV catch-up services, was launched in July last year. STV currently delivers around 800,000 video streams per month.
