M7 Group has concluded a multi-year capacity agreement with BBC Studios for the HD satellite distribution of BBC Earth in CEE (excluding Poland) and Turkey.
Following the agreement, M7 Platform Services will provide BBC Studios with a comprehensive full-service satellite contribution solution via Thor 5 at 1 degree West, including multiplexing, encoding, encryption and uplinking, allowing the safe and secure reception of BBC Earth by its third-party customers within the Europe-wide footprint of Thor 5. Via the same feed, BBC Earth will continue to be distributed to subscribers of the M7-owned pay-tv platforms DirectOne (Hungary) and Focus Sat (Romania).
Commenting on the agreement, Zbigniew Pruski, commercial director BBC Studios CEE, said: “For many years, M7 Group is an important content partner for BBC Studios for various European markets. I am excited that our cooperation is now extending into the provision of technical satellite distribution services for BBC Earth in CEE and Turkey. We have great confidence in the professional skills and customer focus of the M7 Platform Services team, and we look forward to our enlarged partnership with M7”.
Bill Wijdeveld, VP platform content services at M7 Group, added: “M7 and BBC Studios enjoy a long-standing cooperation for the distribution of BBC Studios flagship channels throughout the various M7 markets, thereby greatly enhancing the attractiveness of our content offering. We are very pleased with the opportunity to broaden our partnership with the provision of satellite distribution services, and we look forward to a continued, fruitful cooperation”.
