FIC Rolls Out New Food Channel

AMSTERDAM: FOX International Channels has lined up carriage deals with Ziggo, UPC, Caiway and Glashart Media in the Netherlands for its new food channel 24Kitchen, slated for an October 1 rollout.

A joint venture of FOX Channels Benelux and Jan Dekker Holding, 24Kitchen will reach more than 3 million Dutch digital basic-cable subs at launch. It will be programmed primarily with original local productions, fronted by, among others, Dutch TV masterchefs Rudolph van Veen and Angélique Schmeinck, Giovanni Caminita, Danny Jansen, Rob Baan, Nadia Zerouali and Merijn Tol, Andrea van Lieshout and John Gerdsen. The linear TV channel will be accompanied by on-demand services, a website, and e-magazine, and it will stage a variety of off-air events.

“24Kitchen is FIC’s first fully local lifestyle channel in Europe,” said Jesús Perezagua, FIC’s president for Europe and Africa. “The Netherlands is a priority market for FIC. Its fast digital rollout and dynamic production community make it an ideal market for 24Kitchen and a great launching pad from which to take this channel to the rest of Europe.”

“We are very pleased to launch 24Kitchen in the Netherlands first,” added Raymond van der Vliet, general manager of FOX Channels Benelux. “We are delighted by our partnership with Jan Dekker Holding, and the opportunity to bring this exciting new channel to our cable TV partners and Dutch viewers alike.”