BBC Entertainment



BBC Entertainment is an international television channel broadcasting comedy, drama, light entertainment, reality and children's programming (some regions only) from the BBC, Channel 4 and other UK production houses. The channel broadcasts regional versions to suit local demands and replaces BBC Prime. It is wholly owned by BBC Worldwide.

Launch dates
The channel was launched in October 2006, replacing BBC Prime in Asian markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea. On 28 December 2006, it was launched on the Astro platform in Malaysia. The channel was launched in India in May 2007 on the Tata Sky platform and on India online Broadband Public Limited, but ceased broadcasting at the end of November 2012 due to "commercial considerations".

The channel was launched in Poland, on Cyfrowy Polsat, in December 2007, and replaced BBC Prime on DStv in South Africa on 1 September 2008. It was launched together with its sister channels (BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and BBC HD) in the Nordic countries in November 2008, when it replaced BBC Prime on Canal Digital, Com Hem, Telia Digital-TV and FastTV. The Nordic countries get a separate feed of the channel which differs from that in the rest of Europe. It was also launched in Mexico on the SKY México digital satellite platform in August 2008 in a deal with Televisa, and it has since extended to other Central and South American countries.

The channel replaced BBC Prime in Europe and the Middle East & North Africa in November 2009. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, BBC Entertainment is carried alongside BBC One and BBC Two, on the Telenet, Ziggo, and Naxoo cable networks.

On 1 December 2009, Astro dropped the channel and replaced it with ITV Granada. On 1 March 2010 in Italy Sky Italia also dropped the channel. In 2010 Kabel Deutschland (Germany) made it a pay-TV channel.

RCS&RDS launched the channel in Romania in November 2012. In August 2012, UniFi picked up the channel, thus making the channel available in Malaysia once more after a 3-year hiatus. However UniFi dropped the channel in December 2015.

Programming
This table is not complete

* Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and Latin America ** Date is for Europe only