BBC SIGNS PAN-ARAB DEAL WITH ORBIT

BBC Prime, the BBC’s international entertainment channel, has landed a deal with Orbit Communications for satellite distribution across the Middle East.

BBC Prime reaches nearly 10 million subscribers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year.

Programme highlights in October include Wallace & Gromit, drama such as Silent Witness and Hope & Glory, suspense with Jonathan Creek, comedy with Murder Most Horrid, the Vicar of Dibley and The Brittas Empire, as well as five BBC documentaries about one of the great crowd pullers of the documentary arena – the shark. Watch out Discovery! BBC Prime will now be available on the Orbit Satellite Television & Radio Network in Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. “Launching BBC Prime on the Orbit platform opens up this important new market for the channel,” said Wayne Dunsford, director of channels EMEIA, BBC Worldwide.