New comedy website sells old shows

One of the new generation of websites selling comedy shows online has been launched, featuring the likes of Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd and George and Mildred.

TVComedyClassics.com allows users to download episodes of mostly Seventies programming for 99p for a one-off viewing or £2.49 to own forever.

The site is also promising additional content such as unseen episodes and interviews with the stars.

It features the back catalogue owned by Fremantle Media Enterprises, which also includes Love Thy Neighbour – billed as ‘a lighthearted look at the problem of colour’ but often considered racist in today’s climate – Sid James series Bless This House and Jim Davidson’s Up The Elephant And Round The Castle.

Fremantle's Pete Kalhan said: ‘TVComedyClassics.com is a great way for us to interact directly with our consumers by delivering to them the content they want, when and where they want it.

‘We very much see TVComedyClassics.com as just the first in many programme genre portal websites we will be developing.’

Other similar sites in the pipeline include Warner Music’s Comedybox and RDF Digital’s Roughcuts.

Published: 6 Aug 2007