David Farnor | On 17, Jan 2014

Photo: ITV

ITV’s period drama hit Mr. Selfridge has released its second season on iTunes three days ahead of its TV broadcast.

Hot on the heels of HBO’s decision to make Girls Season 3 available to watch online through Sky’s on-demand service, NBCUniversal (who picked up the rights from ITV last year) have joined the growing trend to launch shows digitally before their traditional distribution model kicks in.

The pay-per-view (electronic sell-through) method was recently used by Channel 4’s new comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, starring Andy Samberg and BBC’s Orphan Black. Both were available to stream a week ahead of their TV premiere. This is the first time an ITV programme has gone down the digital preview route for a series.

Season 2 of Mr. Selfridge premieres on the UK terrestrial TV channel at 9pm on Sunday 19th January, but the first episode is already available to download for the standard market price of £1.89 – or £2.49 in HD. Episodes will be released on iTunes every Thursday following the ITV broadcast, in much the same way as Homeland Season 3 was distributed. A season pass can be pre-ordered for £15.99 (or £19.99 HD) and each of the 10 episodes will be downloaded automatically to your computer once available.

The second season picks up five years after the store first opened, in 1909, with Jeremy Piven’s Mr. Selfridge surrounded by rumours of war – and, of course, facing his increasingly troubled marriage to Rose (Frances O’Connor), aka. Mrs. Selfridge.

Find out what happens now on iTunes:

Thanks to Advanced Television for the heads-up.

Add to Watchlist