Lifetime to Launch in Turkey as Free-to-Air Network

A+E Networks said Tuesday that it will launch Lifetime in Turkey as a free-to-air network on April 26.

It will be its first free-to-air channel in the country. Lifetime Turkey will be offered in a joint venture between A+E Networks and MCD Medya. Fox Media will serve as the network’s advertising sales representative.

In addition to Lifetime’s global franchise series, specials to movies, Lifetime Turkey will also offer local versions of some of its most popular series, which will be announced at launch, A+E said. On Tuesday, the network announced a daily morning talk show hosted by Turkish on-air personality Ozge Uzun. Along with experts, she “will tap into various female-skewing topics, such as beauty, cooking, fashion, pop culture, social media, health, child care, music, movies and more,” the company said.

Turkey has been a hot TV market, and various entertainment companies have launched networks there. A few years ago, the country got a local version of the Sundance Channel. And just last year, Discovery Communications acquired free-to-air news and entertainment network CNBC-e in Turkey.

“We are thrilled to further strengthen Lifetime’s global footprint through the launch of our first free-to-air channel in Turkey, and proud to partner with MCD Medya to debut a premium channel for women,” said Dean Possenniskie, managing director, EMEA, A+E Networks. “Additionally, Lifetime Turkey represents a key element of our growth strategy to extend A+E Networks’ portfolio across [Europe, the Middle East and Africa]. The channel will collectively give us the ability to reach over 19 million households and deliver to advertisers a high-value, upscale audience with real scale.”

Said MCD president Esra Oflaz Guvenkaya: “Lifetime will be a pioneer in the Turkish market, filling a gap across the free TV landscape from the viewers’ perspective and in the industry from the advertisers’ perspective.”

Lifetime is available in 150 million-plus households worldwide across 110 territories and airs in 11 languages.

A+E Networks, a joint venture of Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corp., also includes such network brands as A&E, History, Viceland, H2 and Crime + Investigation, among others.

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