Sydney - From July 1, BBC Worldwide will assume full ownership and management control of UKTV after acquiring FOXTEL's 60 percent stake and FremantleMedia's 20 percent stake in the channel.

BBC Worldwide will roll out three new channels in Australia from its global portfolio - the first being BBC HD, which launched this month as part of the new FOXTEL HD+ service.

BBC Knowledge and CBeebies will be the first BBC channels to launch on FOXTEL when it gains extra cable and satellite capacity in mid 2009. In total, BBC Worldwide will deliver five channels on the FOXTEL platform from 2009 - UKTV, BBC World News, BBC HD, BBC Knowledge and CBeebies.

FOXTEL chief executive Kim Williams AM said, "British programming is extremely popular with Australian audiences and this agreement will provide our subscribers with access to the best of BBC Worldwide's outstanding portfolio of global channels and extensive catalogue of exceptional quality programming."

Darren Childs, BBC Worldwide Channels' managing director, said: "The agreement… follows the ground-breaking launch of the BBC HD service on FOXTEL - the channel's first launch outside the UK. The Australian market is extremely important to BBC Worldwide; there is a strong affinity to our content that has built up over many years."

The new UKTV ownership model will allow flexibility in managing BBC Worldwide's content in Australia, and will allow further channel opportunities both there and in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

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