ITV Choice Scores African Carriage

LONDON: Following a deal between ITV Studios Global Entertainment and African pay-TV operator MultiChoice, ITV Choice will launch across Africa for the first time.

Joining the lineup of DStv on May 5, ITV Choice will deliver entertainment highlights such as Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Big Star’s Little Star and Keep It In The Family, as well as Get Your Act Together, Eggheads and Coach Trip. Drama offerings include Poldark, Arthur & George, Home Fires, Vera, Murdoch Mysteries and soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale. All programming will air very close to U.K. transmission dates, with the soaps airing within 48 hours of the U.K.

Nic van Zwanenberg, the channel director of ITV Choice, said: “We are delighted to bring ITV Choice to Africa for the first time with MultiChoice as our partners. Viewers across the continent will join 11 million households in over 40 countries and territories in the Middle East and Asia who already enjoy the best British entertainment and drama within days of it airing in the U.K. This is a key element of our strategy to build the ITV Choice footprint, and we look forward to announcing further expansion in due course.”
 
Aletta Alberts, the general manager for content at MultiChoice South Africa, commented: “Our customers love British content and when we decided to add more British channels, ITV was the natural choice. The cherry on top is that our DStv Premium customers will get to see the majority of programming only two days after the U.K. broadcast.”