Ninetnine, a disruptive content provider to digital and media platforms, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Turkey’s largest local SVOD service, BluTV, to jointly launch Helwa TV, a new live linear entertainment TV channel on March 15.
BluTV, where Discovery is also a strategic investor, is Turkey’s first and largest local SVOD founded by Aydın Doğan Yalçındağ in 2016. It’s a major content producer offering a wide range of local and international TV series, movies, shorts and documentaries as well as live TV broadcasts and is home to all Discovery content and live TV channels. Leading platforms in France, the US and Middle East, who will be announced in the coming weeks, have already confirmed the carriage of the channel among their pay-TV and FAST services.
Helwa TV, which will broadcast in Arabic and French, seeks to entertain the Arab and North African diasporas living in Europe and North America. It includes the most popular Turkish dramas and originals from BluTV, movies from Ninetnine’s leading pay-tv service ‘Le Bouquet Maghreb’, cooking shows, children’s content and for the first time, Ninetnine’s originally produced and licensed content, including Les Amoureux Voyageurs, Family Football Club, and more to follow in the coming months.
Mustafa Alpay Guler, BluTV International MD, and Board Member, said: ‘We sustained a significant growth both in Turkey and abroad in very competitive territories. We became the largest original content producer in the region as the first SVOD platform in Turkey. Now we are looking to engage our audience with a linear TV offer and are very delighted to partner for this new project. The company has a wealth of experience reaching Arab and North African diasporas as well as original content that is important to this market. This is also a perfect time for both companies to start thinking of future co-productions opportunities’.
Samir Zehani and Adel Hamla, co-founders of Ninetnine, added: ‘We’re really delighted to create and operate this TV channel: Helwa TV will complement our strategy to deliver the very best content to our diverse audience. We’re dedicated to providing a channel with content that’s carefully selected to meet the needs of the Arab Maghreb diasporas across the globe’.
