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BBC Worldwide operating BBC Entertainment (DStv 120), BBC Knowledge (DStv 251), BBC Lifestyle (DStv 180) and CBeebies (DStv 306) in South Africa says its ''investing hugely in new content, especially in South Africa.''
''At the moment we can say – and we can still say – we're the biggest and leading international content provider on DStv in South Africa,'' says Jon Farrar, vice president of programming for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for BBC Worldwide. ''We're bigger than Time Warner, bigger than NBC Universal, bigger than Discovery and bigger than Disney – and we're growing at a rapid rate. So far in 2010, our adults 16+ share is up on a year-to-year basis by a whopping 61% which is utterly phenomenal.''
''So why are we growing? Why have we've had such success over the last 12 months?'' Regarding BBC Worldwide's Crime & Punishment season where crime dramas were shown on BBC Entertainment with crime documentaries following in the timeslot directly after that on BBC Knowledge, Jon Farrar says ''we've managed to uplift that timeslot of 22:30 by 150%.''
''Going forward – this is the first time we've done it – it will be a key part of our strategy: cross-channel initiatives and looking at how we can keep and move viewers through the BBC's portfolio of channels and prevent leakage of viewers to our competitor's channels.''
