BBC First Launching in Turkey

The BBC Studios drama channel BBC First is slated to make its debut in Turkey on Türk Telekom’s Tivibu platform.

With a feed curated for Turkish audiences, the channel will launch on May 27 with full Turkish subtitles available. Through this new agreement, BBC First will join the BBC Studios global brands BBC Earth, BBC World News and CBeebies in the Turkish market.

BBC First will be the exclusive home of new seasons of Doctor Who in Turkey, launching with the eleventh and twelfth seasons. The channel will also include MotherFatherSon with Richard Gere, Helen McCrory (Peaky Blinders) and Billy Howle (The Witness for the Prosecution); Brexit: The Uncivil War with Benedict Cumberbatch and Les Misérables with Dominic West (The Wire) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite); as well as The Mallorca Files, Traces, Father Brown, Death in Paradise, Call the Midwife, Shakespeare and Hathaway and The Durrells.

Turkish audiences will also have access to drama boxsets on demand through Tivibu and via the mobile app Tivibu Go. Titles include Doctor Foster, The Collection, SS-GB, New Blood and more. Series that have completed their run on the linear channel will also be added to the on-demand offer.

BBC Studios’ new agreement with Türk Telekom will also see the BBC Earth and BBC World News channels continue on the service for a further two and a half years.

Natasha Hussain, senior VP for MENA at BBC Studios, said: “As the World’s spotlight shines bright on British drama, I’m thrilled to be expanding our offering in Turkey with the truly unmissable BBC First channel. The BBC has a strong reputation for its original storytelling and high production values in this genre, and I can’t wait for audiences in Turkey to be introduced to the raft of unique stories and unforgettable characters on BBC First.”

Ziyad Varol, Türk Telekom TV/OTT content and product director, added: “We are very much happy with our years of cooperation with BBC, a household name for broadcast and media worldwide. Five years ago, Tivibu was the first platform to launch BBC’s documentary channel BBC Earth in Turkey, introducing one of the most important documentary producers of the world to Turkish audiences. And now, with BBC First, we are again excited to provide Tivibu audience with the newest and most popular series content of BBC. We hope to add new firsts into our list with BBC and to provide further value to Tivibu viewers by presenting them premium contents before everyone else in Turkey.”