Discovery Channel Canada has signed a three-year first-look deal with Media International Corporation of Tokyo, taking exclusive access to the Japanese distributor’s catalogue of high-definition, English-language programming.

The deal, revealed on Monday at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in New York, will see Discovery acquire 20 hours in its first year and at least 25 hours in its second and third years for broadcast on Discovery HD. The first titles acquired include Monster of the Sea and The Mysterious Black Rabbits.

The deal follows a year-old copro and content sharing deal between Discovery and NHK, and ‘ensures that our viewers will enjoy even more of their world in stunning high definition in the years to come,’ said Paul Lewis, the channel’s president and GM, in a statement. MICO is the world’s largest distributor of HD programming and the sole international distributor for Japanese pubcaster NHK.

‘New projects are in development with NHK and under discussion this week,’ at the convention, Lewis added. Highlights of the previous agreement include the coproduced documentary series Race to Mars and Mars Rising.

From Media in Canada