James R | On 12, Feb 2014

Update: Lots of Channel 4 shows have been added back to Netflix UK. For more information, click here.

Father Ted, Peep Show, The IT Crowd and other classic Channel 4 shows are being removed from Netflix UK and LOVEFiLM Instant in the coming weeks, as licences expire on both subscription-based streaming platforms. But why are they leaving – and where are they going?

Research by VODzilla.co reveals that popular British favourites, such as The Inbetweeners, Shameless and Green Wing, are all leaving Netflix UK on Saturday 15th February. A few days later, they are also leaving Amazon’s LOVEFiLM Instant.

The removal of titles from the VOD services is nothing new: licences for both LOVEFiLM Instant and Netflix UK content expires and is renewed all the time. At the start of the year, Netflix UK attracted a wave of media attention as several hundred titles departed the service, including such masterpieces as The Bicycle Thieves and Con Air. A few weeks later, Vittorio De Sica’s Oscar-nominated movie was back and ready to stream on Netflix UK again. (Con Air remains unavailable.)

In February 2014, though, a long list of titles will be taken off both SVOD platforms, with content ranging from recent hits, such as Fresh Meat and Skins to older crowd-pleasers, such as Teachers, Drop the Dead Donkey and Da Ali G Show. Made in Chelsea and My Big Fat Royal Gypsy Wedding will also be departing.

Some are only available on one of the two services, while others will be removed in a matter of days or months – but the one thing they have in common? They all belong to Channel 4.

The removal of Channel 4’s titles from Netflix UK and LOVEFiLM Instant follows the removal of other content belonging to the broadcaster from YouTube. Viewers used to be able to watch full episodes of Channel 4, More 4 and E4 shows for free on the Internet TV site. Since January 2014, only clips and trailers have been available through YouTube and viewers have had to use 4oD to watch full episodes – or access them through Amazon and Netflix’s rival services. With the removal of shows from both, though, the only option will be 4oD.

At the time of the YouTube update, Channel 4 was quoted by Wired: “As a not-for-profit broadcaster funded by advertising, we put our money back into the programmes themselves. To make the best of this investment, we’ve decided to focus on bringing online viewers of our full-length shows to our own 4oD apps — such as those on iOS, Android and channel4.com. These apps also allow us to encourage more viewing by recommending programmes we think people will appreciate, and to provide viewers with additional services.”

Do not panic, though: unlike Netflix and LOVEFiLM Instant, 4oD is a free service. Of course, you probably knew that already – because many viewers are already signed up to it. Indeed, Channel 4 recently announced that its total number of registered users has topped 10 million, with half of all UK viewers aged between 16 and 24 now signed up with an account.

As shows from Peep Show to Pete Versus Life leave LOVEFiLM Instant and Netflix UK, then, will it be for good? Will they stay put on the broadcaster’s home turf? Or will they pop back, Bicycle Thieves-style, in a week’s time?

Channel 4 certainly has good reason to keep their shows exclusively on their own service. That pool of user data is now being used to improve Channel 4’s advertising, boost its digital revenue and power recommendations for users. The broadcaster has said that it will also use the information to aid decisions in commissioning future content.

However, many Channel 4 shows may not go anywhere, according to Netflix UK. The Internet TV site’s listings say that Elizabeth I, Drop the Dead Donkey, Black Books, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd and Margaret, Teachers, Top Boy and Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind will still be available to stream after Saturday 15th February.

A number of titles in the above list are available on Amazon’s rival service, though: Drop the Dead Donkey, Black Books, Teachers and Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind. All are listed as expiring on Saturday 1st March. Netflix UK’s expiry dates, then, may not be up-to-date or simply be incomplete.

But even for the series definitely getting the chop, a spokesperson for Channel 4 would not rule out a return to the paid subscription services.

“VoD content has been part of Netflix since its very first day in the UK over two years ago – and we’ve had a line-up of Channel 4 shows on Amazon for some time now,” they told us.

“We value our partnerships with both Netflix and Amazon and have on-going discussions about the make-up of our content showcase on the platforms.”

We’ll bring your more as we hear it. Until then, here is a list of the titles that are leaving Netflix UK and LOVEFiLM Instant.

Channel 4 shows leaving Netflix UK on Saturday 15th February:

Anatomy for Beginners
Beaver Falls
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings
Campus
Cutting Edge: Cocaine
Cutting Edge: Katie: My Beautiful Friends
Da Ali G Show
Derren Brown: Enigma
Father Ted
Fresh Meat
Friday Night Dinner
Green Wing
Heston’s Fishy Feasts
Hugh’s Chicken Run
Made in Chelsea
Misfits
My Big Fat Royal Gypsy Wedding
Peep Show
Pete Versus Life
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
Shameless
Sirens
Skins
The Inbetweeners
The IT Crowd

At the time of writing, Channel 4 shows not leaving Netflix UK:

Black Books
Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind
Drop the Dead Donkey
Elizabeth I
Teachers
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd and Margaret
Top Boy

Channel 4 titles leaving LOVEFiLM Instant:

Saturday 1st March

Black Books (Season 1)
Black Books (Season 2)
Black Books (Season 3)
Da Ali G Show (Season 1)
Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind (Season 1)
Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind (Season 2)
Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 1)
Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 2)
Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 3)
Elizabeth I
Father Ted (Season 1)
Father Ted (Season 2)
Fresh Meat (Season 1)
Friday Night Dinner
Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word (Season 4)
Green Wing (Season 1)
Green Wing (Season 2)
Heston’s Mission Impossible
Misfits (Season 1)
Misfits (Season 2)
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Season 3)
Shameless (Season 4)
Shameless (Season 5)
Shameless (Season 5)
Shameless S7
Skins (Season 2)
Skins (Season 3)
Skins (Season 4)
Skins (Season 5)
Teachers (Season 1)
Teachers (Season 2)
Teachers (Season 3)
Teachers (Season 4)
The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off
The Inbetweeners (Season 1)
The Inbetweeners (Season 2)
The Inbetweeners (Season 3)
The IT Crowd

Sunday 16th March

Shameless (Season 1)
Skins (Season 1)

Wednesday 19th March

Peep Show
Pete Versus Life

Friday 21st March

Shameless (Season 2)
Shameless (Season 3)

Thursday 27th March

Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 4)
Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 5)
Drop the Dead Donkey (Season 5)

Saturday 19th April

My Big Fat Royal Gypsy Wedding

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