MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide announced on the second day of MipTV, two new licensing deals with India’s digital services providers, Hungama, and Vuclip. With these SVOD deals, India viewers will have access to award-winning and popular BBC drama series never before seen in India.
From end April 2016, viewers of Hungama will be able to watch BBC programmes premiering in India for the first time including crime drama Prey (Series 1) – in which John Simm (Life on Mars, State of Play) stars as a man on the run, desperate to clear his name for the sake of his family; Not Safe For Work– a comedy drama which follows Katherine (played by Zawe Ashton) who is reluctantly relocated from London to Northampton as part of public spending cuts and she meets a disparate yet similarly disillusioned group of workmates; and sci-fi, comedy and horror drama Save Our Skins – in which protagonists Ben and Stephen wake up one morning to realise the human race has disappeared and they are the only two humans left on Earth. These programmes, and more will be available on demand for viewers to watch at their own convenience.
Subscribers of Vuclip’s OTT service, Viu can now catch blockbusting BBC dramas including the modern reworking of Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece, War and Peace, starring Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton; and BAFTA-nominated Doctor Foster in which Doctor Gemma Foster, a loving wife and trusted doctor’s seemingly perfect world is shattered when she suspects her husband of having an affair.
“Over the last few months, we have seen an upward trend where BBC’s dramas are being increasingly snapped up by Indian clients for their linear TV and digital TV platforms. A study commissioned by BBC Worldwide last year showed that international audiences, including India, love original British drama,” said BBC Worldwide (India) SVP & GM Myleeta Aga. “With more and more Indians going online to watch their favourite dramas, we are excited to work with Hungama and Viu to satisfy viewers’ demands by bring critically acclaimed and highly rated BBC programmes to their subscribers.”
