Fans of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives and other US reality television programming received good news overnight, with US network giant NBCUniversal announcing it will launch its own streaming service in Australia. 
The Comcast-owned group will launch a reality TV subscription video on-demand service called hayu in   March in Australia, the UK and Ireland. It will charge $5.99 a month across connected TVs, mobile, tablets and computers.
"NBCUniversal's expertise as the foremost producer of reality programming - along with the obvious popularity of the genre - was the trigger for launching hayu.  We know that reality content is a primary driver of social interaction and that fans of reality TV significantly over-index in online viewing," NBCUniversal International chairman Kevin MacLellan said.
The service will include shows Top Chef, Million Dollar Listing, Made In Chelsea and The Millionaire Matchmaker, among others.
NBCUniversal said the majority of content would be available on the same day it was released in the United States.
NBCUniversal operates a number of TV networks in the US, including E! and NBC Sports, as well as Universal Pictures and theme parks such as Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.
It comes just under a year after US streaming giant Netflix launched in Australia, following the launch of local SVOD services Stan, which is 50:50 owned by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media, publisher of The Australian Financial Review and BusinessDay, and Presto, a joint venture between Seven West Media and Foxtel.