Avi Himatsinghani’s indie channel operator, Rewind Networks, opens its sixth major Asian market on 1 October with the launch of the Hits channel on Thai cable platform CTH.
The carriage deal was announced at the ContentAsia Summit in Singapore last week, and continues to confirm CTH’s re-emergence as a significant subscription television player in Thailand.
The Hits deal comes a little more than a month after CTH became the first platform in the world to launch DreamWorks Animation’s new kids/family entertainment channel.
CTH is the 20-month-old Hits channel’s seventh carriage agreement in the region and raises distribution to just above eight million homes.
Hits will be available on CTH as a 24/7 linear channel and via live simulcast streaming on on-the-go platform CTH Everywhere. The channel will also be accessible through the Hits TV app and online on hitstv.com.
The Thailand launch schedule includes the premiere of Airwolf, starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine.
Also in October, Hits premieres new seasons of flagship shows, Golden Girls, Seinfeld, Taxi and Cheers. New title Home Improvement follows in November.
Rewind Networks’ chief executive Himatsinghani says Thailand is a “growth opportunity in the long term”.
“We are committed to strengthening the basic tier offering for consumers,” he adds.
Hits premiered on StarHub in Singapore in December 2013, and now has carriage on Singtel TV (Singapore), SkyCable (Philippines), Indovision (Indonesia), Now TV (Hong Kong) and Astro (Malaysia).
Hits’ rights cover 13 markets. Once Vietnam and Taiwan launch, major market boxes will be ticked. The remaining five markets are Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Macau and Cambodia.