Seoul, South Korea – BBC Worldwide announced deals with three TV operators in South Korea on April 3, ahead of MIPTV. The deals were linked with pay TV operators, Hyundai Media and YTN, and free-to-air TV operator, KBS. Consisting of predominantly natural history, factual, and science genres, the deals are expected to carry programmes to a combined 40 million households in South Korea.

This will mark BBC Worldwide’s first foray into Hyundai Media’s newly launched factual channel, Health Medi TV. Health Medi TV, which launched in December 2013, targets audiences, aged 20-50 years, interested in health-focused as well as general factual programmes. The channel carries a mix of local and international programmes.

The deal with KBS consists of the highly commended BBC series, The Musketeers, which follows d’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos as they fight for justice, for honour, for love and for adventure and natural history title Hidden Kingdoms, which takes viewers into a unique and unexplored miniature world of the planet’s smaller animals. KBS will be the first to air both titles in South Korea.

YTN will air blue chip natural history and factual titles such as BBC Earth’s Earthflight, a stunning series which combines state-of-the-art technology and sophisticated techniques to show the world from an amazing aerial perspective; Frozen Planet, a seven-part series that focuses on life and the environment in both the Arctic and Antarctic; and Africa, a series that journeys through five extraordinary regions, revealing Africa as we’ve never seen it before.

We are extremely excited about the three new deals,” said Soojin Chung, General Manager, Korea, BBC Worldwide. “With the deals in place, viewers in Korea will be privy to more quality and award-winning programmes by BBC Worldwide.”

“YTN and KBS have been trusted partners of BBC Worldwide and we are proud to be able to continue to provide quality content, worthy of their viewers. We are extremely confident that Health Medi TV will be successful and we are honoured to be part of its launch. At BBC Worldwide, we recognise the increasing demand for high-quality programmes and we are confident in delivering just that to our discerning viewers in South Korea,” she added.

All programmes will also be available on Health Medi TV, YTN Science and KBS’s TV Everywhere service.