Hugh Williams


Best of British SVOD re-ups with Scandi operators

ITV-backed best of British SVOD service Cirkus has inked new deals with two leading pay TV operators in the Nordics. New long-term agreements with Com Hem in Sweden and Get in Norway will ensure the streaming service’s continued carriage on the platforms. The new deals also extend the reach of Cirkus on Com Hem and […]

First deals for ITV-backed factual SVOD service

Factual SVOD service Curio will launch in Sweden and Norway next month after the ITV-backed service secured deals with pay TV operators in the region, TBI has learned. In Sweden, Curio will be on the Com Hem platform, the largest in the country, and in Norway, on GET, the second largest nationally. Curio comes from […]

ITV takes majority stake in Euro SVOD service

ITV has taken a majority stake in Cirkus, the best-of-British on-demand service. The UK broadcaster was already a minority shareholder, but has now upped its ownership level in the streaming service. Financial details were not broken out but Martin Goswami, ITV director of pay and distribution, said: “Cirkus is an important part of ITV’s international […]

The British are coming – and not before time.

The way we sell British content abroad is changing – for the better, says Hugh Williams Thanks to a vibrant production culture, fuelled in part by the government’s tax breaks for those wishing to invest in media opportunities, British television is beginning to enjoy the exciting global position it has often craved but never really […]

Cirkus brings in Blinders, Pemberley in Endemol deal

‘Best of British’ on-demand service Cirkus has acquired BBC dramas Peaky Blinders (pictured) and Death Comes to Pemberley as part of a wide-ranging output deal with Endemol. The agreement gives Cirkus access to Endemol’s drama, comedy and entertainment shows and includes the upcoming BBC World War I drama The Ark, plus library shows such as Prisoner’s […]

Viewpoint: In VOD we trust – how pay TV can combat OTT

In television, as with many other things in life, you have to keep the faith. Fifteen years ago, when UK telco BT thought broadband was just a passing fad and nobody thought you could ever watch a TV set without an aerial, I joined a small company that had developed the first video on demand […]

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 […]