Content and Co. launching on-demand programming service Cirkus

Content and Co., the UK-based consultancy run by TV industry veterans Mark Bradford and Hugh Williams, is launching a new on-demand service for pay TV operators called Cirkus, TBI has learned.

The subscription video-on-demand service will aggregate content from UK producers and distributors including BBC Worldwide and All3Media International and will launch with a partner in the Nordic region later this year.

The aim of the new service is to roll up a raft of programming from UK-based suppliers and offer it as part of a curated Cirkus package. It will not be a white label solution and Content and Co. is positioning it as a branded programming solution for incumbent pay TV operators.

The holding page for the new service features images of shows including drama series Misfits and Sherlock from BBC Worldwide and Skins and Midsomer Murders from All3Media. It also features images of spoof cop drama A Touch of Cloth and lifestyle series Gok’s Clothes Roadshow, which are UK shows distributed by Endemol.

Cirkus will initially be focused on the Nordic pay TV markets and launch in other international territories at a later date.

As OTT and new entrants come to market, the Cirkus content package will be designed to shore up the existing positions of existing pay operators.

Content and Co. declined to comment, but is expected to make an announcement about its full roster of programming partners and first customers shortly.

A short introduction to the service online says: “Conceived to help incumbent pay TV platform operators counter the threat posed to their business by new OTT services such as Netflix, [Cirkus] brings together the very best of British drama, comedy and entertainment programming under-one-roof and will initially be made available via cable, IPTV and DTT platform operators in the Nordic territory.”

Content and Co. is based in London and run by ex-Turner and Universal Studios executive Bradford and Williams, a former BBC executive and content acquisitions director for TalkTalk.

The consultancy is run in conjunction with media law firm Wiggin and digital design agency Ostmodern.