'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' to air on ITV

ITV has snapped up the free-to-air broadcast rights to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as part of a new multi-year deal with Warner Bros International Television Distribution.

The commercial broadcaster will give the terrestrial premiere to the sixth Harry Potter film, most likely on ITV1, after positioning itself as the "home of Harry Potter" over the past six years.

As well as airing all the first five movies based on JK Rowling's smash hit books, ITV has also broadcast five Harry Potter: Behind the Magic TV specials presented by Ben Shephard, along with clip-show 50 Greatest Harry Potter Moments.

Directed by David Yates, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince broke the then UK box office record in 2009 for the biggest five-day opening, grossing an eye-watering £50,723,508.

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Alongside the Harry Potter rights, ITV has agreed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros giving it access to a range of movies, including 300, I am Legend and Body of Lies.

The broadcaster has also renewed licences to archive titles, such as The Matrix trilogy, Troy, Mystic River and the two Scooby Doo feature films. It is expected that the films will be mostly shown on digital channel ITV2.

"Given the successful association we've enjoyed with Harry Potter and ITV over the last six years, it's fitting that the free-to-air broadcast premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is on ITV," said Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros International Television Distribution.

"ITV has been a great supporter of the films produced by the studio over the years and this deal once again illustrates the continuing value of top quality feature films to broadcast networks."

ITV's director of digital channels and acquisitions Angela Jain added: "We're thrilled to add Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a host of other feature films from Warner Bros to our film collection. It's further evidence of our commitment to delivering arguably some of the best Hollywood movies to our viewers."

At the Edinburgh International TV Festival in August, Jain defended ITV2 from criticism that it constantly repeats the same films. This followed a comment from film director Edgar Wright that his movie Hot Fuzz was frequently shown on the digital channel.

Jain said that if "something is good, [then] repeat it", but she also admitted that there needed to be a "better mix of movies available on ITV2".

Watch the trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince below: