South African SVOD service buys BBCWW shows

South African subscription on-demand platform MTN FrontRow has acquired BBC Worldwide shows Sherlock and Planet Earth through a deal with rights broker Vubiquity.

The deal also includes crime drama Luther, period drama Call the Midwife, documentary series Africa and children’s shows such as Charlie and Lola. Orphan Black, Ripper Street, Happy Valley, Top of the Lake, Moone Boy, Pramface and The Honourable Woman round out the shows.

MTN FrontRow launched last year as the first OTT service from a South African telecoms provider, as a partnership between MTN and Discover Digital. The service is broken down into SVOD and TVOD offers through its FrontRow Club and FrontRow Premiere brands.

Formats rights manager Vubiquity currently deliver around 500,000 hours of content annually.

“BBC Worldwide produces some of the world’s most popular and cutting-edge content,” said Vubiquity managing director, EMEA, Adam Poulter.

“MTN FrontRow is bringing this outstanding-quality content to South Africa. They are responding to the growing demands of customers who want to view the latest films and TV series whenever they want and wherever they want.