CANNES: It is now official that The History Channel is coming to India. Today, AETN International, the division of A&E Television Networks, used the MipCom platform to announce its Indian launch. Its partner: Star TV courtesy a licensing agreement with Fox International. The launch date: 23 November.
The launch was announced by AETN senior vice-president & general manager Maria D Komodikis at MipCom’s press club. As part of the agreement, Zubin Gandevia and Dilshad Master will be looking after the channel’s distribution, marketing and programming in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, reaching an estimated 15 million subscribers.
The channel will also make its debut in New Zealand on the Sky New Zealand platform on 1 December through an agreement with Foxtel, the licensor of the network in Australia. The Australia signal will be piped into New Zealand, bringing an additional 375,000 subs.
Also slated to debut in Greece is a programming block of an hour each for The History Channel and its sibling The Biography Channel on the state broadcaster ERT some time this month, between 9:15 and 11:15 pm (Athens time).