YouTube has launched a new movies section of its site in the UK, offering more than 400 films free, on demand.

Offerings include Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home, Bollywood title Shaan, and Darryl Hannah-starring The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Also, YouTube has struck a new content partnership with UK movie streaming website Blinkbox. Blinkbox will make 165 of its titles available through YouTube movies. Those titles include The Hotel New Hampshire, The Addiction and Death Train.

The UK YouTube already offers TV shows including Channel 4’s Peep Show and The Inbetweeners.

This service has no impact on the US YouTube Movies site, which was set up last year.

Donagh O’Malley, YouTube’s Head of Video Partnerships, said: “This is one of many efforts to ensure that people can find all the different kinds of video they want to see, from bedroom vlogs and citizen journalism reports to full-length films and TV shows. This is a first step, and we hope film lovers enjoy the wide range of titles our partners have made available.”

Michael Comish, the CEO of Blinkbox, added: “The UK’s number one movie streaming website embarking on a film partnership with one of the world’s online biggest brands is a mouth-watering proposition. The size and scope of YouTube’s audience is immense and this exciting tie up allows us to reach film fans and potential users outside of our usual audience and helping us build on our (already) rapidly growing customer base.”

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