 |
|
|---|---|
 "Total freedom of entertainment" |
|
| URL | http://www.itv.com |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Portal |
| Registration | No |
| Owner | ITV plc |
| Created by | ITV |
| Launched | 31 October 1994 |
itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's biggest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers online streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV guide. Each of ITV plc's channels, ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CITV Channel have a page with information on their programming. There are also pages for the ITV regions owned by ITV plc, meanwhile the regions not owned by ITV plc each have their own, separate websites.
Contents |
History
The URL 'www.itv.com' was created on 31 October 1994, but was registered elsewhere for some years before Carlton and Granada bought the domain name after merging their respective online services carlton.com and G-Wizz. Both companies have since merged to form ITV plc.
The original ITV URL was www.itv.co.uk, which now redirects to itv.com. itv.co.uk was and still is registered to the ITV Network Limited as opposed to ITV plc.
2007 re-design and video on demand
On 11 October 2006 ITV confirmed that US digital agency Schematic would design a next-generation video-on-demand itv.com website as well as ITV's own digital media player.[1]
The new ITV online features media player through which viewers gain access to whole shows, simulcasts, previews and catch-ups of broadcast content, much of it within a 30-day window, all for free for the viewer, funded by advertising.
Users also have access to the network's programme archive, 'behind-the-scenes' programming, games and user-generated content.
The portal will also make available some 1,000 hours of exclusive archive content, which will grow over time.
The portal also introduces interactive services and community elements.[2]
Soaps such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale was the first genre to launch on 12 June 2007, followed by Games on 19 June 2007, Drama and Best of ITV on 29 June 2007, Lifestyle on 9 July 2007, Entertainment on 17 July 2007, Sport on 25 July, with every other section launching on 31 July, making the site now fully launched.[3] Also on 12 June 2007 simulcasts of ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 were launched (However not all programming will be shown due to rights restrictions).
In March 2008, the website was revamped with the changes including the homepage and the video player, with a new Catch Up TV section. [4]
2009 re-design
On 10 December 2008 it was announced that itv.com would undergo another redesign to introduce more social media features and a greater emphasis on its most popular TV shows with a "fewer, bigger, better" strategy. The re-design is currently codenamed 'Project Penguin', and follows the announcement of ITV's Catch Up service being rebranded to ITV Player.[5]
Parts of the site have already had a re-design, including a new-look homepage. The Coronation Street, Loose Women and football sections pages were updated in the early months of 2009. This Morning relaunched in August. ITV News will relaunch next year, coinciding with a new Tonight page. On 11 September video coding was changed from Microsoft Silverlight to Flash, and on 25 September 2009 ITV relaunched its TV classics section. On 19 November ITV Player had a complete overhaul of its site and relaunched with a new website with a few new add-ons, including a search bar, light dimmer and bigger video players. A Brand new TV Shows directory was relaunched on December 10th
Integration of ITV Local
On 4 March 2009, ITV announced that ITV Local would close as a separate business. On 17 March 2009, it did, with the ITV regions integrated into itv.com. The new itv.com/local relaunched during October 2009 and will although has not not been officialally launched on regional news programs local sites are fully working. The long awaaited ITV News website will launch with a new Tonight website in the new year.
See also
References
- ^ "ITV and BBC in race to launch digital media players" MediaGuardian, URL last accessed 11 May 2009
- ^ "ITV gets serious about online content" PC Pro: News, URL last accessed 4 January 2007
- ^ "ITV.com gears up for relaunch" MediaGuardian, URL last accessed 12 June 2007
- ^ ITV to relaunch iPlayer rival
- ^ "ITV website revamp to push social networking and focus on top shows" (in English). guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/10/itv-player-project-penguin. Retrieved 10 December 2008.
External links
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This entertainment website-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
