January 20 (SeeNews) - U.S. TV giant Discovery is entering the Turkish market by the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with local streaming service provider BluTV, under which the broadcaster will acquire a 35% stake in BluTV, the two companies announced.
This investment with an option to invest in BluTV further in the coming years will help accelerate Discovery's entrance into the important Turkish market of 83 million people and allow BluTV to scale its penetration in the rapidly growing subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market with over 4 million subscribers in the country, the two companies said in a joint statement published on the LinkedIn profile of BluTV on Tuesday.
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The value of the investment was not disclosed. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
"This announcement follows a period of impressive growth for Discovery on the Turkish market, which includes the opening of a local office in 2012, full distribution across all major Turkish pay-TV platforms, launch of free-to-air channels TLC and DMAX in 2015 and 2018, respectively and continued investment in its channel portfolio," the statement reads.
BluTV was founded in 2015 by Dogan Group, the country's largest media group. BluTV is Turkey’s leading subscription video-on-demand service and the number one online platform for Turkish TV series in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, according to information published on the company's LinkedIn profile.