CHANNEL 4 has announced a big change to its streaming service with new shows from a rival network coming soon.
Old classics from the BBC including Red Dwarf, The Office and QI will be available on the app as part of a “ground-breaking” first for the broadcaster.
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Channel 4 has penned a deal with U&Dave owner UKTV to include catch up and boxsets from the U service.
U – itself owned by BBC Studios – is not only home to U&Dave, but also U&Drama, U&W and U&Yesterday.
On top of classics from BBC’s archives, U’s slate of originals will be available to watch.
This includes drama Outrageous, about the scandalous Mitford sisters and Bergerac, a modern re-imagining of the iconic Jersey-set crime drama.
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There’s also Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Bangers & Cash and Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake.
It’s the first time Channel 4 has carried a third-party service on its platform, adding thousands of hours of free British content to watch.
“It’s fantastic that we are building on our long and successful commercial partnership with a bold new deal with UKTV to make our Channel 4 streaming proposition even stronger for viewers,” said Jonathan Allan, Interim CEO of Channel 4.
“Loads of brilliant British content from U will complement our own bold, noisy shows and UKTV will benefit from tapping into our younger streaming audience.”
U’s shows are set to start appearing on the Channel 4 streaming service from January next year.
The move comes just weeks after the broadcaster announced more changes to its digital offering in the form of new channels.
Three new streaming channels on telly service Freely launched last month that can’t be accessed anywhere else.
Freely is the eventual successor to Freeview which relies on an internet connection instead of an aerial to beam channels into homes.
There’s 4Reality, billed as “sometimes risqué, often funny and always entertaining”.
4Homes shows series like Grand Designs, A Place in the Sun, and Location, Location, Location.
And 4Life “showcases the great content genres channel 4 viewers love including travel, food and animals”.
Get more quality TV for free
By Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor
If you’re tired of paying out on several streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ then there are a growing number of free alternatives around.
While many of these alternatives have been filled with obscure content, more big names like Sky have got on board in recent years offering some quality stuff, which is largely archive but still entertaining.
As well as UKTV, Sony and 5 are among the other players getting involved.
If you haven’t already, give Pluto TV a go too – it has more than Halloween stuff to watch.
On there you’ll find channels from MTV, with Catfish and Geordie Shore.
Some of the classics are real gems too – I found myself watching long-forgotten episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch the other day.
Image credit: Alamy
