BBC Brit, BBC Earth and BBC First will launch on MultiChoice’s DStv platform in South Africa.
Multichoice it the first pay TV platform in the world to launch all three of its new global genre brands. BBC Brit and BBC Earth will be available from September 1, 2015 and BBC First will follow on October 18.
The upcoming launch marks the debut of the brands on a new continent and follows the successful European debuts of BBC Brit and BBC Earth in Poland, the Nordics, Hungary, Romania and Turkey earlier this year. BBC First launched in Australia in mid-2014 and in Belgium and The Netherlands earlier this year. BBC Earth will launch in Latin America on September 1st and in Asia on October 3rd.
In South Africa, BBC Entertainment and BBC Knowledge will be replaced with BBC Brit and BBC Earth with an increased investment into new content, whilst BBC First will launch as a new channel in the region. The new channels will sit alongside BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies and BBC World News.
“BBC Brit, BBC Earth and BBC First bring together some of the world’s biggest names and best programme-makers in three brilliantly curated, high quality channel brands,” said Paul Dempsey, President Global Markets at BBC Worldwide.
“The channels capture what’s special about British TV and our South African launch marks an important step in the company’s global strategy as we continue to inspire audiences with distinctive, premium programming.”
Joel Churcher, General Manager and Vice President for Africa, BBC Worldwide commented: “South Africa is the first market in the world to receive all three new brands. The content hosted on these channels is designed to reach a diverse pan-African audience, reflecting a wide range of voices, ages and cultures. Our African viewers clearly have a deep affection for BBC programming, and as a leading content distributor, we will continue to deliver high quality, premium content to our channels for many years to come.”
Mark Rayner, COO for MultiChoice South Africa commented: “Our DStv customers will be delighted with the addition of even more compelling BBC content. We’re constantly looking for ways to bring more value and premium entertainment to our customers – by being the first platform in the world to exclusively offer these three channels, just shows our level of commitment to that promise.”
