TalkTalk has boosted its TV offering with the launch of a new suite of premium World TV Channels, designed to extend its pay TV offering to Japanese, Arabic and Afrikaans speaking audiences, provided by THEMA company.
The three new World TV Boosts available exclusively to TalkTalk TV customers from today are:
- The Arabic TV Boost offers customers access to a selection of 12 channels from major Arabic Networks including OSN, ART, and Al Jazeera. Customers can watch a variety of news, entertainment, youth programming, music, movies and more.
- The JSTV Boost includes JSTV and JSTV2, the only Japanese channels available in Europe. Channels cover all genres from entertainment, movies and news, to sports and kids.
- kykNET and kykNET Musiek are available exclusively from TalkTalk in the UK with the kykNET TV Boost which provides customers with a range of Afrikaans entertainment programmes.
TalkTalk is dedicated to providing its customers with local language content through a simple and great value, flexible service. The Boosts are available via the TalkTalk player on a monthly basis from as little as £10 a month.
TalkTalk has partnered with THEMA a company that aggregates foreign TV channels into TV bouquets targeted to diaspora communities. THEMA’s other clients include major pay-TV platforms in Europe, Asia and North America.
Tristia Harrison, Commercial Director at TalkTalk, said: “We are delighted to offer more entertainment from a further three regions as part of the diverse range of content available on YouView from TalkTalk, and to bring these popular channels to Japanese, Afrikaans and Arabic speaking viewers across the UK.”
François Thiellet, CEO of THEMA said: “We are very glad to make our channels available in a country where international communities thrive. There is no better partner than TalkTalk to reach our audience”.
This follows the successful launch of other international content designed to provide its customers with local language channels, including the Star TV Boost, which offers great movies and entertainment from the UK’s No 1 Asian network, the Asian Boost, offering the best of Bollywood entertainment, and the Eros Now Boost providing unlimited access to a range of blockbuster Indian movies.
Facts:
Arabic community
- London has become the centre for communications with the Arab world, with the news channel Al Jazeera based there.
- 240,000 British Arabs were reported in the 2011 UK Census, around 110,000 live in London.
- The Borough of Westminster has the highest density of Arabic speakers in London.
- Famous Arabic people in the UK: Mohamed Al Fayed business man who owns the Hotel Ritz in Paris and formerly the Harrods Department Store, Mika - British singer-songwriter
Japan
- The 2001 census recorded 37,293 Japanese people living in Britain.
- There are 17,268 Japanese people living in London, with Acton being the area with the highest Japanese population.
- Japanese celebrities in the UK include: Jun Tanaka British Japanese UK TV chef, best known for presenting Channel 4’s Cooking IT as well as appearing on Saturday Kitchen on BBC One, Diana Yukawa - solo violinist and songwriter, Togo Igawa - famous actor who works primarily in British film and television, featured in films such as the Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha.
Afrikan speaking community
- An estimated 10 million people worldwide speak Afrikaans as a first language. Of those living in the UK, the largest population is in London.
- 216,000 South Africans living in the UK according to the 2009 Office of National Statistics (ONS).
- Famous people of South African ancestry: Sienna Miller actress, Christian Bale actor, Jackie Collins actress