Singapore – BBC Worldwide Global Channels will launch its first subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, BBC HD, in Taiwan via Chunghwa Telecom, the territory’s largest operator of broadband multimedia services in April. BBC HD SVOD will offer 10 three-hour blocks of multiple-genre programmes to feature drama, comedy, documentary, natural history, music and arts programming. BBC HD will be broadcast in English with traditional Chinese subtitles and will debut programme promos and navigational menus in traditional Chinese. Christine Leo-McKerrow, SVP and GM, Global Channels Asia-Pacific said, “The BBC HD SVOD launch in Taiwan will be the first time the BBC HD brand is available outside the UK and in advance of the 24hour linear channel launching later this year.” BBC HD will showcase Cranford, a drama set in Victorian England, starring Judi Dench; natural history series Ganges which features the Indian river; Sensitive Skin a new comedy set in London starring Joanna Lumley; Aida¸Verdi’s opera about the pharaohs; and Earth: The Power of the Planet, a series on the history of Earth. BBC HD is the sixth channel brand in BBC Worldwide’s new Global Channels portfolio to launch, adding to BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies and BBC World which are already available across Asia and EMEA territories.