Foxtel Secures BBC Worldwide Content for New Arts Channel

SYDNEY: BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) has licensed more than 200 hours of music and arts programming to Foxtel Arts, a new network that is due to debut later this month.

The package includes concerts from the BBC Proms classic music festival, such as Brahms Night and Wagner's Die Walkure; live performances such as Il Divo: A Musical Affair—Live in Japan, Pixies: Live at Maida Vale Studio and Live Lounge: Florence and the Machine; and the BBC music program Later with Jools Holland, which includes performances by U2 and Sam Smith, among other artists.

Additional titles that have been acquired for Foxtel Arts are The Beauty of Anatomy, Art of China, The Art of Gothic, Design for Life and David Starkey's Music and Monarchy. The channel is slated to launch on March 28 at 10 a.m.

Annette Kollek, the senior business manager for TV sales at BBC Worldwide ANZ, commented: "We are delighted to be offering Australian audiences access to a diverse and quality range of arts and music content on Foxtel Arts.

"This deal highlights Foxtel's commitment to showcasing the world's finest music productions and bringing informative and engaging arts programs to their new Arts channel."

Fraser Stark, the group operations manager for premium entertainment and Arts channel manager at Foxtel Networks, added: "When sourcing content to program a premium arts channel, to curating performance and documentary programming of intelligence and breadth, it would be hard to find a richer vein to tap than that of the BBC. Across our factual arts genres, and in a variety of performances specials and series, we have, somewhat unsurprisingly, sourced television of the highest caliber derived from various art forms and intended for a wide range of interests and tastes."