Everything about Bbc Worldwide totally explained
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned
commercial subsidiary of the
British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in
1995. In the year to
31 March 2007 it made a profit of £111.1m on a turnover of £810.4m.
Worldwide is responsible for a wide range of commercial activities, primarily connected in some way with the output and public purposes of the main BBC. The company's work includes investment in
television and
film production - Worldwide will often provide additional budget for BBC productions in return for various commercial rights to the programmes, and has also done so for non-BBC programmes as well, such as the
Red Production Company drama
Mine All Mine for the BBC's rival
ITV network in 2004. In 2006, a Content & Production business, headed by former BBC controller of entertainment Wayne Garvie, was formed to produce local versions of BBC formats overseas (maximising revenues by receiving a production fee from the local broadcaster as well as a sum from selling the initial re-versioning rights). BBC Worldwide has also, since, taken a 25% stake in Left Bank Pictures, a newly-formed independent film & TV production company, owned and run by former ITV Productions controller of comedy and drama
Andy Harries, and a 25% stake in Cliffhanger Productions – an independent production company that focuses on returning drama for UK networks.
Other major areas of business include international programming sales and distribution, foreign and domestic
satellite and
cable television channels (such as
UKTV in the UK,
BBC America in the
United States and
BBC Entertainment in
India), book and magazine publishing (most famously the
Radio Times),
VHS and
DVD releases, spoken word and music audio products,
CD-ROMs,
videogames, English language teaching, videos for education and training, interactive telephony, library footage sales, magazine subscription fulfilment, exhibitions, live events and film. Some of these are via JVs, for example Random House and 2|entertain (see below).
These commercial activities allow BBC Worldwide to return profits and dividends to the BBC to re-invest in
public service programming (£189 million during
2005/
2006). However, the BBC has often been criticised for the amount of money it makes from Worldwide. Some commercial rivals protest at the advantage the company has from being associated with and being able to exploit the programme catalogue and resources of the BBC in order to provide its goods and services.
Prior to the Charter renewal in 2007, there was much speculation that the BBC might sell off at least some of Worldwide's assets, such as the magazine publishing arm (the third largest in the UK), to appease these criticisms and make a large profit from the sale in the process. However, a review of the BBC's commercial activities in 2004 concluded that this wasn't as advantageous as keeping the business and driving it harder. Instead, some changes to its remit, focus, structure and governance were made, for example that it would only publish titles in the UK linked to BBC programmes or key genres. As a result, BBC Worldwide sold
eve magazine to
Haymarket Group in 2005. In 2006, the sell-off of certain businesses which were no longer core continued with the sale of
BBC Books to publisher
Random House.
In July
2004, it was announced that Worldwide's DVD release company, BBC Video, which had been releasing BBC programmes on the format and previously on videotape since the early
1980s, was to be merged with VCI, a video release company controlled by
Woolworths Group plc. The new company created,
2 entertain Ltd, is controlled 60% by Worldwide and 40% by
Woolworths Group plc. This creates the sixth biggest video company in the UK market, and the largest British-owned brand. Worldwide retains the rights in all the BBC output released by the new company.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bbc Worldwide'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://bbc_worldwide.totallyexplained.com">BBC Worldwide Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
