Thema launches African channels OTT service outside France

Channel distributor Thema and Alpha Networks have teamed up to launch a new OTT service focusing on bringing French-language content from Africa to a pan-European audience.

The service, Le Bouquet Africain La Box TV, will bring French language TV channels from countries including Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon to African expatriate populations in countries including Spain and Italy.

The new service is an OTT version of the existing Le Bouquet Africain service, which aggregates 20 channels and is distributed via French pay TV networks to 147,000 subscribers.

Thema said it made more sense to deliver content elsewhere in Europe via an OTT platform using adaptive bit-rate streaming technology. It has contracted cloud-based delivery and OSS/BSS provider Alpha Networks to deliver the service, including set-top boxes, for a launch at the end of this month.

Le Bouquet Africain La Box TV will deliver 20 live channels and video-on-demand to all EU countries outside France, and will also be available via apps on a range of connected devices. Payment services will be provided by Paybox.