Following in the footsteps of KPN, Dutch FTTH provider Glashart Media has signed a distribution agreement with BBC Worldwide Channels for carriage of five domestic BBC channels on its networks.
Subscribers to Glashart’s digital TV service will receive BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four and BBC HD from June 1. Analogue subscribers to Glashart (over FTTH) will receive BBC One and BBC Two.
Glashart will continue to distribute BBC Entertainment and BBC World News on its digital TV offer, but on the analogue tier BBC One and BBC Two will replace the two international channels.
The channels from Glashart Media are available through a number of regional providers, XMS, Lijbrandt, Edutel, KickXL, Solcon, Concepts-ICT and Tweak.
Niels Jonkman, responsible for TV services at Glashart Media, said in a statement: “We are very pleased with the expansion of our package with the BBC channel in which our customers are very much interested. It’s great to television viewers the possibility to see these channels via fiber. Of course in the best quality in The Netherlands.”
Ian McDonough, SVP and general manager EMEA, BBC Worldwide Channels, adds that the BBC is pleased that more television viewers in The Netherlands now have the opportunity to view these channels via fibre. “We know from market research that the BBC channels are very popular with the Dutch viewers. The agreement also includes the HD channel, BBC HD, which covers a wide range of BBC HD programming.”