Channel 4 to launch World Drama service, dedicated programming block
It seems like all our efforts towards promoting cultural diversity on British TV screens have not been vain, as Channel 4 unveiled today a brand-new TV service dedicated to showcasing foreign-language drama series from around the world.
4World Drama will indeed be exclusively available in the U.K. through C4’s new digital hub, All 4 (replacing 4oD), thanks to a partnership with Global Series Network (GSN), an independent production and broadcast company founded by former Fox International Channels (FIC)’s EVP Content Europe Jason Thorp, Channel 4 commissioner Walter Iuzzolino and FIC’s head of production Jo McGrath.
Besides 500 hours of international dramas available on-demand on All 4, a selection of series will be broadcast within a dedicated ‘4World Drama’ slot on free-to-air channel More4. Channel 4 had already paved the way by showing French supernatural drama The Returned and Norwegian thriller Mammon, but this goes even further as the curators of the service plan to include all the best series from around the world: Czech political thrillers, Belgian murder capers, Argentine family sagas, German cold war pieces, and more (no pun intended!).
We are therefore hopeful that this will provide an amazing opportunity for Korean dramas to find a home on British television, namely More4. And that may not stop there, as Channel 4 and GSN are planning to roll out the service into further countries!
The launch of 4World Drama is scheduled for this autumn 2015.
(Source: Channel 4)
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