Media Headliner: Channel 4's launch junkie gets a FilmFour fix.(Channel 4 Television Co.)

Channel 4's marketing director Polly Cochrane is telling the nation that FilmFour is now free-to-air.

Sky doesn't mess around with its advertising. Its latest promos for Sky Movies hit you right in the face with the message that nine out of ten films premiere on its channels. So what chance for FilmFour, Channel 4's movie service, which goes free-to-air on 23 July?

The broadcaster announced in February that FilmFour is switching to the free-to-air business model. Polly Cochrane, the marketing director at Channel 4, has since been busy preparing the launch campaign, which stars Hollywood film stars including Ewan McGregor and Dame Judi Dench.

As Cochrane screens the five TV ads, which will roll out next week, she wonders out loud whether the lighting is too dark and twitches uncomfortably about the tiniest details. It is this attention to detail that helped land 4creative, the internal creative department at the broadcaster, a raft of awards for its advertising at the end of last year. The ads deliver the 'FilmFour is Free' message with a direct, simple, humorous approach.

One spot, starring Rhys Ifans, canvasses potential viewers on a suburban housing estate. The ad is an indication that the channel is hoping to attract mainstream casual film viewers on top of the channel's existing 300,000 subscribers, but is about as different to the Sky Movies trails as it is possible to get.

The consensus within the advertising industry is that Channel 4's decision to relaunch FilmFour as the UK's only free-to-air film channel was a no-brainer. Since it launched in 1998, FilmFour has been available on a subscription-only basis to digital cable and Sky Digital homes. On 23 July it will relaunch as the UK's only major free-to-air film channel, available to every digital home in the UK. Media buyers predict that FilmFour can now expect to triple its advertising revenues.

As Cochrane says: 'The first reason is a straightforward commercial one; FilmFour has reached critical mass and we think we can achieve a greater degree of profitability.' But, she admits, there is also another benefit.