UK soaps stay on Aussie screens

Australian pay TV channel UKTV will run British soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale until at least 2020.

This comes after UKTV operator BBC Worldwide Australia and New Zealand renewed an agreement with distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

UKTV will get five more seasons of Coronation Street comprising 1,300 new episodes and 260 episodes of Emmerdale, which will follow out until early 2020.

“Coronation Street and Emmerdale are the world’s longest running soaps, with viewers all over the globe,” said Augustus Dulgaro, executive VP, sales, Asia Pacific, ITVSGE. “We are delighted to sign this new deal to enable their Australian fans to continue watching them for years to come.”

UKTV runs all of the UK’s major soap staples, which also include BBC One’s Eastenders and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.