BBC Worldwide: Coming Soon in New Zealand

A recent deal between BBC Worldwide and Prime Television, TVNZ and TV3 has paved� ways for British drama, comedy and natural history to come into the television arena of New Zealand. In a deal that delivers over 20 hours, BBC Worldwide has licensed the reimagining of Upstairs Downstairs, the detective drama DCI Banks and natural history programmes Human Planet and Polar Bear – Spy on the Ice to Prime Television.

As a part of a deal with TVNZ over eight hours of drama and comedy content will come on air to the viewers of New Zealand. TVNZ has also acquired comedy series Live at the Apollo series 6 and Michael McIntyre’s – Live & Laughing which will air later this year.
Moreover, a separate deal with TV3, Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams will entertain the audiences, with ‘Come Fly With Me’ in coming times.

BBC Worldwide Australia’s Sales Manager, New Zealand Robyn Campbell commented that these deals demonstrated the demand for British content at present and he assured that it would grow more in future.

BBC Worldwide to up investments for channels in India

The commercial vertical of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), BBC Worldwide, is gearing up to augment its investments in the BBC Channels aired in the subcontinent region.

The Media Company, moving forth with its plans to increase its focus internationally, has signalled long-term commitment to expanding in India. BBC Worldwide would be making new investments into its BC Channels, BBC Entertainment and CBeebies.

In a statement BBC Worldwide says, “Over the past year 55% of the organisation’s revenue came from international businesses – up from 46% in 2006. BBC Worldwide’s target is to have two-thirds of its sales come from overseas business by 2012 and India is seen as a key market to help reach this target.”

BBC Worldwide Channels currently operates an international network of 41 TV channels, available in every habitable continent, reaching 326 million homes. Last year, it saw double-digit percentage growth in sales and profits year on year (16.4% and 34.2% respectively).

The announcement follows the recent appointment of Deepak Shourie as the Director, South Asia, BBC Worldwide Channels.

BBC Worldwide operates BBC Entertainment, CBeebies and BBC World News as broadcast verticals. It also has a Mumbai-based production house for television content. The company also manages the BBC.com in India. Other than TV operations, BBC Worldwide also has a venture with the Times of India Group, Worldwide Media Ltd, for publication business.

Pakistan bans BBC Urdu service news bulletins in the country over FM

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned broadcast of BBC Urdu News bulletins over 24 partner FM stations of the BBC.

BBC World Service has been ordered to cease the broadcasting of BBC Urdu service’s news bulletins on 24 out of its 34 FM partner stations in Pakistan. PERMA has mentioned that the decision has been relayed to the broadcaster as per the orders from the government.

The BBC has showed concerns over the action and believes that the 24 FM partner stations completed all the required paperwork for PEMRA last October and calls on the Pakistan authorities to allow the stations to resume BBC Urdu news bulletins so that audiences in Pakistan can have access to the BBC’s impartial and editorially independent news.

In a statement released by the Company, BBC says, “The BBC is concerned that the millions of radio listeners in Pakistan who turn to the BBC for unbiased and objective news and information will be the most affected by this decision.”

The BBC will monitor the situation closely and continue to support its partners in getting BBC programmes back on air. The broadcasts were earlier banned by Pakistan’s television and radio regulator in 2007, but were re-allowed in 2008.

BBC to celebrate Christmas with two docus

BBC will explore two of the best loved traditions of Christmas in two documentaries for BBC Two, The Truth About Carols and The Star Of Bethlehem – Behind The Myth.

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Sir Cliff Richard talks to Sally Magnusson about how his faith has shaped his five decades in showbiz in a special one-hour festive edition of Songs Of Praise.

Plus, there will be a chance to hear the very best traditional Christmas music from the quiet splendour of King’s College Cambridge for A Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols and the joyous celebration of the Songs Of Praise Christmas Big Sing from London’s Royal Albert Hall.

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In The Truth About Carols, composer Howard Goodall uncovers the often turbulent and uncomfortable relationship between carols and the celebration of Christmas.

Though they have been around since the 12th century, carols have only been a feature of church services for the last 150 years.

For centuries the Church tried to keep carols out, believing them to be pagan or of no value, because they were written by human hand.

Carols have been used as secret codes, saved from the brink of extinction and been the subject of state censorship.

The carols sung seem set in stone and yet they can have more than 400 regional variations. Their roots are in dance, in folk culture, street theatre and in pre-Christian religion; and yet they’ve ended up as the quintessential expression of the Christmas story.

In Star Of Bethlehem – Behind The Myth, new developments in technology are allowing scientists, astronomers and historians to map the night skies of the ancient world with extraordinary accuracy.

As they study the movements of the planets and stars around the time of the birth of Christ, could the star of Bethlehem have been a triple conjunction of planets, an occultation of Jupiter and Saturn, or even a supernova?

Christmas preparations start on BBC One on the first Sunday in Advent with Christmas Voices. This is an hour-long programme of inspirational song, chat and debate presented by Lesley Garrett.

Songs Of Praise will prepare for the season with four special programmes. The first on Saint Andrew’s Day (30 November) comes from Linlithgow, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

The second is a special programme celebrating Sir Cliff Richard’s 50 years in show business. Cliff talks to Sally Magnusson about his faith, work and life over the past five decades.

Recorded in front of an invited audience representing the charities he has supported throughout his career, Sir Cliff describes how his attitude towards others has changed, and how he likes to remain an enigma.

BBC Worldwide in content deal with New Zealand broadcasters

BBC Worldwide concluded content deals with New Zealand broadcasters TVNZ and Prime Television at the television trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France.

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BBC Worldwide has renewed a deal with Prime Television that will see the upcoming series of award-winning Top Gear remain with the channel.

Top Gear is consistently Prime’s highest-rating programme, and has aired on the network since 2004.

Meanwhile, BBC Worldwide has also concluded a deal with TVNZ for new and returning drama, factual, and factual entertainment programming.

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New dramas included in the package include Whitechapel, The Children and Sleep with Me.

Returning series include the third series of time-travel drama Primeval, the fifth series of New Tricks, Hotel Babylon, Mistresses and Silent Witness.

BBC World Service Trust campaigns for AIDS in India

More than 2.5 million people are living with HIV in the country and Multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use, specifically in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, have ensured that these states have the highest prevalence of AIDS afflicted persons across the country.

In a bid to create a buzz, get people to talk about their fears and bust prevalent myths about the dreaded disease, the BBC World Service Trust, a non government organisation (NGO), is to flag off a series of interactive measures from December 1, World Aids Day.

To get the message across the Indian populace the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had come to the aid of the NGO with a grant of $6 million, to be used over a two-year period.

First off the mark is a contest with one aim, to get people talking. The target audience is 50 million men, in the reproductive age group. A clever riddle will entice consumers through a mass media campaign. There are clues like “It’s a sign of manhood…but it’s not a moustache. The one who doesn’t talk about it is no man” and so on.

Says Yvonne MacPherson, project director of the BBC World Service Trust, “The fun brain teaser will involve interactivity between the target audience, with an invitation to phone in to a certain number and get people to say—not SMS—the answer to the riddle. That way, we encourage more talk. And the booty is a mobile phone prize, which again encourages one to talk.”

Over the past six years, the BBC World Service Trust has been implementing India’s largest HIV and AIDS mass media campaign.

It has produced two weekly television shows for Doordarshan (the public TV broadcaster): a drama, starring HIV-positive detective Jasoos Vijay, and a reality show Haath se Haath Milaa, which featured over 40 Hindi film stars. The last series of Jasoos Vijay was watched by over 70 million viewers.