European broadcaster Modern Times Group (MTG) has launched four factual entertainment channels for the first time in the East African country of Malawi.

Viasat Crime, Viasat Explore, Viasat History and Viasat Nature are now available on the Wananchi Group-owned pay TV platform Zuku TV.

The pay TV channel rollout further boosts MTG’s African presence, with the channels already available in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

“Storytelling is at the heart of African society and our portfolio of factual channels tell the best and most engaging stories and have become must-have channels for platform operators on the continent,” said Laetitia Royaards, MTG Africa’s head of pay TV.

Viasat Explore airs programmes about topics ranging from “the latest scientific breakthroughs to the everyday lives of the engaging characters” and first launched in the Nordic region in 2002.

Viasat Crime carries a mixture of unsolved crime and mystery investigations, as well as programmes about “police work, criminal masterminds and daring heists.” Viasat Crime was called TV6 Action World when it was introduced in the Nordic region in February 1998. It became Viasat Action in 2002 and got its current name in October 2005.

Viasat Nature is focused around wildlife and nature programming. It was launched in 2010 in 25 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in 2011 on Chinese operator StarTimes’ DTT networks in Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as on Zuku’s DTH platform in Uganda.

Viasat History is focused on historical documentaries. In 2011 distribution of the channel was extended for the first time outside Europe, to Africa, through two satellite TV networks in Nigeria and a cable TV network in Kenya, where it is broadcast for 12 hours per day.