A NEW porthole to British content is on the horizon for local viewers with the launch of ITV Choice (DStv channel 123) next Tuesday.
To date, the BBC Entertainment and BBC Lifestyle channels have been tending to appetites with a smorgasbord of content from reality/actuality shows to dramas, period series, comedy and an influx of gastronomic offerings.
ITV Choice will, of course, be expanding the current menu.
Nic van Zwanenberg, ITV’s channel director, explains how this undertaking has come about.
“ITV Choice is a successful and popular English language drama and entertainment channel broadcasting across Asia and the Middle East. We were delighted to receive positive feedback from MultiChoice when we met with their senior executives midway through last year. At ITV we are always looking for like-minded, forward-thinking partners and MultiChoice is the perfect partner for us in Africa, with their unrivalled experience and knowledge of the region as well as an established and growing business showcasing many of the best channels available today.”
With the BBC Worldwide brand already entrenched in the market, Tonight asked Van Zwanenberg about the appeal of ITV Choice.
“We are excited about the opportunity of bringing some of the highest quality world-class content to African viewers. The programmes which will feature on ITV Choice are among the best in the world and come mainly from ITV Studios Global Entertainment, which is one of the world’s leading international television distribution businesses, but also from many of the UK’s leading independent producers and production companies. We know the addition of ITV Choice, as the home of great British entertainment and drama, will be an exciting addition to DStv’s Premium Entertainment package.”
Another selling point is that some of the content will arrive on our screens within 24 hours after airing in the UK.
Highlighting some of the content, he notes: “It will include ITV Studios’ award-winning series Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway; the family entertainment shows Big Star’s Little Star from 12 Yard (part of ITV Studios) and Keep it in the Family from ITV Studios and Over the Top Productions, with celebrities mastering variety acts in ITV Studios’ Get Your Act Together. The drama offering features new titles such as Poldark, the period drama adaptation of the classic novels produced by Mammoth Screen; Arthur & George, Buffalo Pictures’ adaptation of Julian Barnes’s novel about the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and ITV Studios’ World War II drama, Home Fires. It also features detective series Vera and Murdoch Mysteries. And, of course, Britain’s best-loved soaps, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, between 24 and 48 hours after their UK transmission.”
Van Zwanenberg is confident that the channel will continue to flourish.
“At ITV Choice we work closely with our platform partners and research the market dynamics, especially when launching into new territories. We are fortunate to be part of ITV, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster and producer, and, as such, we have unrivalled access to many of the UK’s most popular and most-loved television. Therefore, we are able to schedule great shows across the week and weekend, which will excite and captivate a new audience of fans .”
Although Coronation Street is celebrated in the UK, will local soap buffs take to the more than half-a-century-old soapie?
He maintains: “The beauty of a long-running, highly popular and much-awarded soap such as Coronation Street is the loyal and passionate audience they attract. The storylines are gripping, contemporary and fast-moving and there will always be a new development for new audiences to follow. At the heart of Coronation Street is the story of everyday family life with extraordinary drama unfolding day by day.”
It’s about choice for an already polarised market. And, in that regard, this new channel delivers.