Singapore – BBC Worldwide Channels has inked a deal to launch CBeebies in South Korea for the first time. The channel, targeted at pre-schoolers from 0 – 6 years was made available on KT’s IPTV service, QOOK TV on its basic tier starting 15 May, reaching more than 1.2 million of the platform’s subscribers. “The inaugural launch of CBeebies in Korea is an important one for our long term growth strategy in Asia.” Said Mark Whitehead, Senior Vice President and General Manager of BBC Worldwide Channels Asia. “We are excited to have KT, the country’s number one provider of IPTV services, as our partner.” “Growing our business in Korea continues to be a priority for us in Asia, and quality programming is a lynchpin to our success there,” he continued. “To that end, we have acquired a stable of award-winning and acclaimed pre-school titles for the channel that are customised to appeal to and suit the developmental needs of distinct age groups. CBeebies delivers a safe, non-violent, interactive experience designed by developmental experts to promote imaginative play, social interaction, language skills and educational values.” QOOK TV is an IPTV service launched by KT in July 2007. Some of the top-rated programmes on CBeebies include In the Night Garden, a calming live action series from the makers of Teletubbies, which has won ‘Best Pre-School Live Action Series’ at the BAFTA Children’s Awards for three years running. Charlie and Lola, a cartoon animation about two siblings growing up together, which has won a BAFTA for ‘Best Children’s Television Show’ and ‘Best Script’ whilst Mister Maker, an arts and crafts programme, was nominated for ‘Best Presenter’ at the BAFTA Children’s Awards 2009. “QOOK TV is very pleased to have a partnership with BBC Worldwide Channels to provide high quality programming on our IPTV platform. We are confident that CBeebies will help us to make QOOK TV’s line-up even stronger and more competitive,” said Jong-Ryeol Suh, Head of Media Business Unit of KT Corp. CBeebies will be available on Channel 235 on QOOK TV.