ITV invests in Katzenberg’s VoD start-up

UK commercial broadcaster ITV is among the firms to have invested in the new mobile-first VoD platform from former DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg’s company WndrCo.

Jeffrey Katzenberg

ITV joins a long list of tech firms and Hollywood studios in injecting funds into NewTV (working title), which has led to the venture raising more than US$1bn in its initial funding round.

The platform, incubated at WndrCo and founded by Katzenberg, will offer premium shortform programming with each episode of commissioned shows lasting no longer than 15 minutes. Budgets of up to US$6m per hour will be on offer, with the service being specifically built for “on-the-go mobile viewing.”

Julian Bellamy, MD of ITV Studios, said ITV’s investment would offer the UK firm’s global producers to create programming for the next evolution of the content world.

“Being part of the start of this exciting new mobile platform offers ITV’s hugely talented and creative people around the world the opportunity to produce content in a way never seen before,” he said. “This investment is consistent with our ‘More than TV’ strategy and the focus on growing UK and global production.”

Other companies that have invested in NewTV include Disney, Entertainment One, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Viacom and Warner Media. Tech companies to have contributed include Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co led the investment round along with cable giant Liberty Global, whose involvement was revealed last month.

“More than ever, people want easy access to the highest-quality entertainment that fits perfectly into their busy, on-the-go lifestyles,” said Meg Whitman, CEO of NewTV.

“With NewTV, we’ll give consumers a user-friendly platform, built for mobile, that delivers the best stories, created by the world’s top talent, allowing users to make the most of every moment of their day.”

Katzenberg, managing partner of WndrCo and chairman and founder of NewTV, added: “It is exciting to see Hollywood embracing this new technology distribution platform built for the way we watch today.

“NewTV will access the best talent and intellectual property for this next era in entertainment. We are already seeing tremendous interest from Hollywood’s top talent.”