Discovery Launches Free-to-Air Block in Southeast Asia

Discovery Networks Asia Pacific has launched its first free-to-air block in Southeast Asia, where Discovery Hour will be featured on Thailand’s PPTV.

Starting February 1, PPTV viewers in Thailand will be able to watch a range of hit Discovery shows on the Discovery Hour, running from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily. The block will feature content from five of the network’s most popular genres: survival, extreme jobs, pop science, motoring and science. Titles include Ed Stafford: Into the Unknown, You Have Been Warned, Venom Hunters, Diesel Brothers, How We Invented the World and local production Worst Vacation Ever.

Shavkat Berdiev, the VP and general manager of Southeast Asia at Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, said: “We are really excited to launch our first free-to-air block in Southeast Asia with PPTV to bring our shows to even more viewers in Thailand. We have a huge library of content and we are looking forward to entertaining new audiences who have never experienced the Discovery brand before. At the same time, this also creates an even bigger appetite for our shows that are already airing in the market.”

Surin Krittayaphongphun, the president of Bangkok Media & Broadcasting, said, “We must focus on acquiring quality shows in order to stay in the game. Our aim is to enable the greater public audience to access international quality content, better yet in high definition quality. Therefore, you’ll see that the program lineup on PPTV this year will consist of a good mix of premium content, many of which are from the world’s top content providers.”