BBC Studios Channels Expand Reach in South Africa

BBC Studios has expanded the reach of BBC UKTV and BBC Lifestyle in South Africa by making them available in more DStv packages.

The multi-genre channel BBC UKTV features a variety of entertainment, natural history series, soap operas and children’s shows from the BBC Studios catalog. Beginning September 1, it will become available to subscribers of DStv’s Compact package. It is already available via the DStv Family, Access and EasyView packages. Titles coming to the channel in September include Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators, Father Brown season three and Earth’s Great Seasons season one.

BBC Lifestyle, meanwhile, features programs such as The Great South African Bake Off, Listing Jozi and Jamie Oliver Cooking for Less. In September, it will join the DStv Family package. It is already available via the Compact package. Titles to be added to the channel’s lineup are Come Dine with Me South Africa season nine and Britain’s Most Expensive House season two.

Other BBC Studios channel available through DStv are BBC Brit, BBC Earth and CBeebies. The channels now offer an increased catch-up window, going from 30 days to 60 days.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Multichoice and are proud of our six incredible BBC channels on the DStv platform,” said Pierre Cloete, commercial director at BBC Studios in Africa. “Each channel offers something for everyone with broad genre, trusted quality and international and local talent. I’m so excited to showcase our commitment to going further, broadening the reach of BBC Lifestyle and BBC UKTV and increasing the catch-up window for BBC-owned content across our portfolio. This will give even more people in South Africa access to the very best BBC content, and I can’t wait for new audiences to find their new favourite shows.”

Arran Tindall, chief commercial officer and executive VP of EMEA key markets at BBC Studios, said, “We are proud to extend the reach of our portfolio. Adding BBC Lifestyle to Family and BBC UKTV to Compact enables us to reach wider audiences utilizing the richness of the BBC’s content, providing more DStv subscribers access to award-winning shows.”

“We continue to strengthen our content offering, therefore, we are excited about broadening the content scope for our customers,” added Georginah Machiridza, executive head of general entertainment channels at MultiChoice Group.