Digitaltveurope.com

German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 and international cable giant Liberty Global’s German subsidiary, Unitymedia, have struck a new long-term distribution agreement covering all free, pay, HD and video-on-demand offerings.

ProSiebenSat.1 said the deal secured a reach of 6.4 million households via Unitymedia’s cable network in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia

The agreement includes the channels ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel Eins, Sixx, Sat.1 Gold, ProSieben Maxx and Kabel Eins Doku. The pay TV channels ProSieben Fun, SAT.1 emotions and Kabel Eins Classics are also distributed via Unitymedia, two of them also in HD.

The new agreement includes on-demand and multi-screen distribution. Unitymedia customers can continue watching content from the broadcasting group after broadcast via the Unitymedia video library, and can also watch ProSiebenSat.1 content on smartphones and tablets.

The broadcaster said that in future, pay TV customers will have access to even more content, such as entire seasons of a show. The agreement also enables services such Restart TV.

Christof Wahl, member of the executive board, digital, and COO ProSiebenSat.1 Group said: “With over six million households, Unitymedia is one of our most important distribution partners. We are therefore looking forward to continuing our successful collaboration. The new strategic agreement offers cable customers in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia additional opportunities to consume our content in any situation – at home or on the move.”

Unitymedia’s CEO Lutz Schüler said: “In keeping with the principle that you should never change a winning team, we are delighted to continue providing our customers with popular quality TV stations and to maintain this successful partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE. Customers can decide for themselves where and when to consume the content, entirely as they see fit. The cable network is the ideal foundation for allowing our viewers uninterrupted access to the best TV content in HD via our digital Horizon TV platform at home and with Horizon Go when on the move.”