- Company Wins Competitive Auction for Position on SDN Multiplex -
LONDON, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Discovery Communications today
announced it has secured a channel position on Freeview, the UK's digital
terrestrial television (DTT) platform. The deal with UK multiplex operator,
SDN Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc, will see the channel launch in
early 2009.
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The channel will draw upon Discovery Communications' vast library of
high-quality factual, entertainment and lifestyle programming and also
includes scripted acquisitions especially for the new channel.
Discovery Communications launched its first international channel in the
UK in 1989. The UK business has grown to a robust portfolio of 11 pay-TV
channels available through SKY, Virgin Media and other platforms.
David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications, said,
"Discovery Communications is very proud to bring its first channel to
Freeview. Our first international channel launched in the UK nearly 20 years
ago and the company always has been 'platform neutral' in its distribution
strategy. Discovery Communications' Freeview channel will both complement and
enhance our offerings and portfolio position in the critical UK market."
Dan Brooke, managing director of Discovery Networks UK, added, "The UK now
has the most competitive and diverse TV market in the world and the launch of
a Freeview channel is an important element in expanding consumer reach. We
have talked to Freeview viewers: they love our programming, and once they have
sampled it, we are confident they will want to experience the richness and
variety of our content on other media platforms."
Jeff Henry, managing director, ITV Consumer, said: "SDN is delighted to be
working with Discovery Communications to enhance Freeview's channel offering
even further. Freeview continues to go from strength to strength and is now
firmly established as the UK's most successful digital platform with primary
sets in nearly 10 million UK homes. A staggering 12 million Freeview devices
were sold in the last year alone, many of them converting second and third
sets. On the back of this, it is little wonder that Freeview capacity remains
such a sought-after commodity."
Details of the new channel and its name will be unveiled by Discovery
Communications closer to launch.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's
number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative
subscribers in over 170 countries. Discovery empowers people to explore their
world and satisfy their curiosity through 100-plus worldwide networks. For
more information, please visit http://www.discoverycommunications.com.
About SDN
SDN is a UK-based digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplex operator,
acquired by ITV plc in March 2005. It holds the license from Ofcom to
broadcast DTT channels over a specified bandwidth, and constitutes roughly a
sixth of UK's current DTT capacity, or a third of all commercially available
capacity. SDN derives its income from content providers who would like their
channels to be broadcast to the nation's growing numbers of DTT homes. The
channels are then marketed to consumers as part of the Freeview, Top Up TV, or
BT Vision services. SDN revenues in 2007 were 33m pounds Sterling vs. 16m
pounds Sterling in 2005.
Within SDN's current capacity of up to nine full videostreams, half is
reserved under the 1996 Broadcasting Act for use by Five which broadcasts its
three channels on DTT and sub-licenses the remainder of the capacity to Top Up
TV. The other channels carried by SDN include QVC, Price Drop TV, Nuts TV,
CITV, Bauer Radio, and Teletext.
SOURCE Discovery Communications