Walter Presents, the streaming service for non-English language drama, has launched in New Zealand after striking a distribution deal with state broadcaster TVNZ.
A dedicated Walter Presents section on the TVNZ OnDemand homepage will make more than 250 hours of international scripted programming exclusively available to viewers over the next six months, free of charge and with English-language subtitles.
A number of series that have proved popular for Walter Presents in other territories will be available at launch, including Belgian series “13 Commandments,” Dutch thriller “The Adulterer,” and French crime drama “Vanished by the Lake.”
Walter Iuzzolino, co-founder and curator of Walter Presents, said: “New Zealanders are renowned for their love of travel and their curiosity about the world, so I am really delighted and excited to offer a slice of so many different cultures for their enjoyment on-demand in the comfort of their own homes.”
Walter Presents first launched its curated selection of subtitled drama series via Channel 4’s video streaming platform All 4 in the U.K. in 2016. The service says it recently passed more than 100 million views.
In 2017, Walter Presents launched as an SVOD platform in the U.S. The following year, it partnered with PBS Distribution in the U.S., to make its foreign language drama available on PBS Masterpiece on the Amazon Prime Video channel. Additionally, select titles chosen by PBS are also broadcast on PBS stations and stream on PBS Passport. In 2019, Walter Presents increased its U.S. distribution, launching on Comcast Xfinity X1 and on the Roku Channel.
Walter Presents is also available in Australia through pay-TV service Foxtel and in Italy on Discovery’s Nove, Giallo and Dplay channels.
In April 2019, Walter Presents teamed up with Medialaan to make the service available to Flemish audiences on their newly launched digital channel VTM GO. In Oct. 2019, the service joined forces with S4C to make its dramas available in Welsh.