ITV is one of the most popular TV channels in the UK and it’s entirely free. All you need to do is get an aerial installed and pay for your TV license. Take a look at tvaerialswarrington.com/st-helens to find out more about aerial installation. However, the channels have started offering streaming services. This is why, following an extremely successful year since its launch, ITV is to roll out an expansion of The ITV Hub offering a tiered ‘freemium’ service allowing users to pay for enhanced features including not receiving adverts.
ITV Hub+ gives users the opportunity to subscribe for £3.99 to enjoy all their favourite ITV content with no interruptions. The service has run as a successful pilot on ios devices only, but is due to be rolled out across more platforms and with the addition of new functionality. Previously, viewers would of had to watch adverts as well as having a steady internet connection to watch shows. All of the shows available on the Hub+ box would have been previously aired on freeview boxes such as HumaxDirect, or on paid for channels.
ITV is the only commercial broadcaster in the UK to offer these settings, giving the audience more choice in how they spend their time watching ITV content. Hub+ is built into the current ITV Hub, offering viewers all of the content available on the service.
This Christmas ITV will introduce downloads on ios devices, allowing Hub+ users the opportunity to watch ITV programmes on the Hub offline, or without an internet connection and making ITV the first broadcaster to launch a download service using Apple’s native streaming technology. The service already allows users to partake in live tv streaming on their devices if they’re not near a TV.
In the coming months, Hub+ users will be able to access their service on PC browsers and connected TVs.
The roll out of ITV Hub+ is one of a number of new initiatives planned for the ITV Hub in 2017. These include increased levels of personalisation as well as investment in original and acquired content. This week the Hub will launch the first exclusive box set (You’ve Been T@gged) from ITV’s new partnership with Awesomeness TV, and in January the Hub and ITV’s social platforms will broadcast The Voice’s switch over show, The V Room, hosted by Cel Spellman.
Paul Kanareck, ITV’s Group Director of Online, said: “Viewers have always understood the trade off between paying to view content and watching adverts. With the development of the ITV Hub, we can now offer viewers a choice – to keep watching for free, or to pay to watch without interruptions if that’s important to them. We’ve moved from a single content proposition, as a catch up service, to a more comprehensive offering and Hub+ is a great example of what we can do to further personalise a user’s experience.”
The Hub was launched one year ago replacing the previous ITV Player and now has more than 17 million registered users, with half of all 16-24 year olds in the UK registered on the service and a billion long form requests in its first year alone. Consumption (the measure of the number of hours watched) is up by 43%. Live TV accounted for c.30% of all requests. The ITV Hub is now available on 30 different platforms, having recently launched on Google Chromecast, and is due to launch on Xbox in the coming weeks.
