Starting this week France’s TV5 Monde will be finally available.

TV5 Monde is a world-leading channel which broadcasts everything from news to dramas to current events programming, sports, documentaries and children’s shows.

The station will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week in French, but what makes this station even more attractive is that the programs will soon be available with Korean subtitles.

Internationally, TV5 Monde is available on cable, satellite, IPTV, SVoD and mobile, and offers localized programming in 10 languages. Thus it reaches not only the 200-million strong global French-speaking community, but a significant share of the world’s business and cultural elite.

“TV5 has been available in Korea for more than seven years and its growing distribution reached 150,000 homes last year in several areas of Seoul, Daegu and Ulsan,” said Alexandre Muller, managing director for Asia-Pacific.

In Korea, TV5 Monde will be part of its Pacific branch, which will make it possible for them to offer more direct programming for Korean viewers.

“Korea, being a strategic market in TV5 Monde future developments in Asia-Pacific, it was very important for us to show our commitment to our cable and IPTV partners with a dedicated channel,” he said.

The station is currently offered by KT QOOK TV starting Feb. 16 and there are plans to have it available to other cable subscribers like C&M and SK.

QOOK TV is the nation’s largest IPTV operator serving 1.2 million subscribers, broadcasting nationwide and extending the French channel’s distribution to more than 1 million homes.

More specifically, TV5 Monde Pacifique is available on QOOK TV’s Live Basic and Live Premium packages on channel 350.

“It is the most significant carriage deal to date for TV5 Monde Pacifique and a powerful acknowledgement from QOOK TV of our efforts to appeal to Korean audiences,” Muller said.

While listening to the language of love is one thing, it is a completely different situation understanding it, so TV5 Monde is offering four hours of daily programming with subtitles this summer and plans to hit 10 hours per day by the end of the year.

For those looking to learn French, the station will offer their highly acclaimed Web-based French learning methods with a Korean interface later this year.

“This will subsequently increase the potential market for TV5 Monde in Korea,” he noted.

(yoav@heraldm.com)