Discovery and Unidad Editorial launching free-to-air net in Spain

Discovery and Unidad Editorial (UE) will launch a new free-to-air network in Spain next January. The channel operator and Spanish publishing group have yet to announce the name of the channel, but said that it will be a factual entertainment offering that also has current affairs programming.

Discovery mainly operates pay TV channels – with the odd exception such as DMAX in Germany – while UE is the publisher of titles including Spanish daily newspapers El Mudo, Expansión and Marca. Its TV division, Veo Televisión, owns a digital terrestrial licence and the new channel will launch on DTT.

Discovery will provide factual content from its global networks while Unidad Editorial will feed in the current affairs output.

Antonio Fernández-Galiano, presidente of Veo Televisión and CEO of UE said: “We are developing in the spanish market a new and innovative project that combines the successful formula of Discovery with the informative strength of Unidad Editorial.”

“We have a predominantly paytv business across Western Europe, but in some markets such as Spain, where DTT is the dominant TV platform, the addition of a free to air channel, gives us an opportunity to share our content with the widest possible audience,” said Dee Forbes, president and MD, Discovery Networks Western Europe.