BBC Player Set for Polish Launch with Canal+

BBC Studios has struck a deal with Canal+ to launch the BBC Player VOD service in Poland.

BBC Player will be available to subscribers of the Canal+ online streaming service in Poland from June 1. Subscribers to the Canal+ satellite offer who use set-top boxes connected to the internet will also have access to BBC Player from launch.

Featuring around 1,000 hours of content in its first year, BBC Player will be the local on-demand destination for British drama, documentaries, preschool and lifestyle programming. This includes hit series from the BBC’s linear channel portfolio, BBC BRIT, BBC Earth, BBC Lifestyle, BBC First and CBeebies, in addition to brand-new programming.

The agreement to launch BBC Player was sealed as part of the renewal of the long-term agreement for the distribution of BBC Studios linear channels by Canal+ Poland.

Zbigniew Pruski, BBC Studios’ commercial director for CEE, commented: “BBC Player is a curated on-demand service that complements our long-standing BBC channels that Polish audiences love. BBC Player takes our powerful content and combines it with expert human scheduling and a product built on the BBC Group’s 15 years of on-demand experience. It is a pleasure to be launching this service with Canal+ and offering their subscribers a deeper BBC content offer to address the growing need for top-quality and trustworthy content to be available to audiences wherever they are and at a time convenient to them.”

Monika Kłosińska, program purchasing director at Canal+ Poland, said: “The inclusion of the VOD BBC Player library in the Canal+ offer is another step in building a wide range of high-quality productions from many different genres available in one place. We are also happy that we will be the first to offer access to the website on the Polish market.”