Microsoft has struck deals with EMI and Channel 4 to provide a range of content, including music videos from Kylie and Robbie Williams and clips from TV shows Skins and Shameless, to drive the launch of a TV offering on MSN's instant messenger service.
The software giant is today launching the service, called Messenger TV, across Europe in a bid to bring online video to the millions of users of its instant messenger service.
Microsoft, which has around 14 million monthly unique users of its Windows Live Messenger service in Britain, has struck UK-specific deals with Channel 4 and EMI to boost content on the fledgling service.
Channel 4 will provide a range of "best of Channel 4" clips of up to four minutes in length from more than 20 shows.
Content will include clips of Channel 4 programmes including Peep Show, How to Look Good Naked, Bremner Bird and Fortune, Property Ladder, Father Ted, Shipwrecked, Skins, Shameless and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.
Jon Gisby, Channel 4 director of new media and technology, said: "Our core audience is spending increasing amounts of time online and expect to be able to watch their favourite Channel 4 shows this way.
"We are building relationships with premier brands, such as MSN, to ensure easy access to this high quality content across the internet. We know our viewers enjoy sharing clips with friends and linking back to Channel4.com where they can catch up on full episodes online, and adding this additional social element will I'm sure be of great appeal."
MSN instant messenger users will be able to select and share clips with friends.
"We see Windows Live Messenger as media in its own right, one that has been somewhat untapped as an opportunity," said Peter Bale, the executive producer at MSN UK.
Bale added that this will make Messenger TV a "powerful additional sharing experience" that will be a major draw for advertisers looking to tap into the huge youth market that uses instant messaging.
"This is the first time we have taken video in a meaningful way to a younger audience that might not visit MSN Video [on the main MSN website]," said Rob Crossen, the business manager for video at MSN UK.
Advertising opportunities will include pre-roll ads and a banner that runs at the bottom of the Messenger TV window.
Microsoft said that the terms of the deals with EMI and Channel 4 were confidential, but included a mixture of a fee for content and a share of advertising revenue.
The new Messenger TV service will also tap into content from Microsoft's wider existing MSN Video offering.
This means that users of Messenger TV will also have access to MTV content, including clips from South Park and Pimp My Ride, as well as music videos from artists as diverse as Elvis and Britney Spears.
Other content partners include ITN, Reuters and National Geographic.
Microsoft has been rapidly developing the video capability of its MSN portal in the past year.
In September, the company unveiled a new version of its MSN Video service, and a range of fresh ad formats, to better tap into the booming online video market.
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