JSTV gains carriage on Free

General entertainment channel Japan Satellite TV Europe (JSTV) has appointed Paris-based Thema to handle its European distribution and has gained its first carriage deal with French IPTV provider Free.

Free is making JSTV’s two channels available as an à la carte option for €49 a month. The channel airs live news from NHK, sports (including Sumo and Japanese baseball), drama, films and animation.

Separately, Transmedia Communication SA Group has appointed Thema to handle distribution of the I-Concerts TV channel and music services. I-Concerts HD is a cross-platform channel covering broadcast, IPTV, video-on-demand, online TV and mobile TV. It is available on the Eurobird 9 satellite covering Europe and the Middle East.