YooMedia, the UK interactive media group, has launched a new channel called YooPlay TV, in a joint venture with broadcaster Five.
YooPlayTV, available on Sky satellite television, features a mix of participation and interactive entertainment including the Puzzle Time and Cash Quiz formats, previously piloted on the Avago channel.
It will also feature an extended version of the daily Brainteaser quiz show, which runs on Five, produced by Endemol.
Five will promote the extended version during and after the daily lunchtime broadcast. The extended version will run through the afternoon and early evening on YooPlay TV.
“We are delighted by the prospect of both developing the YooPlay brand through the launch of this channel and the regular broadcast of our own participation TV show,” said Neil MacDonald, group managing director of YooMedia. “The opportunity to host an extended version of the UK’s most successful format of this type and to work with partners such as Five and Endemol is an added bonus for YooPlay TV.”
Jonathan Lewis, head of commercial development at Five, said Brainteaser has proved to be a real interactive success story. He said “the logical next step was always to extend this winning format onto other platforms”.
The agreement with Five is for an initial pilot phase, with an option to extend the arrangement into 2006.
YooPlay also provides an interactive games portal on satellite, terrestrial and cable television, making it the only such service currently available on all four main digital platforms in the UK.