Channel 4 buys Fox film archive

Dodgeball will have its UK TV premiere on Channel 4

Channel 4 has signed a multi-million dollar deal with 20th Century Fox to buy the rights to a raft of hit movies.

20th Century Fox said it was the largest deal it had completed with a UK broadcaster, with a figure of $250m (£149.9m) being reported.

Among the films included in the deal are Dodgeball, The Day After Tomorrow, X-Men 3 and The Omen 666.

The deal comes as Channel 4 prepares to launch its movie channel FilmFour as a free-to-air channel in July.

The deal includes Fox's back catalogue of feature films and future releases up until 2008 for use on Channel 4 and its digital channels E4 and FilmFour.

Working history

Other films included in the deal are Ice Age 2, Robots, Kingdom of Heaven, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Fantastic Four.

"Fox and Channel 4 have an excellent working history together and many of our successful films and series have been on their networks, so we're delighted that this new deal will extend and expand that relationship into the future," said Fox senior vice president Jeff Ford.

Channel 4 and E4 already show Fox TV programmes such The Simpsons The OC.

FilmFour's switch to a free channel will see advertising pay for the channel rather than subscriptions, and will be available to anyone with digital TV.