MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, which is the commercial arm of UK pubcaster The BBC has announced the appointment of Christine Leo-McKerrow as VP, TV channels in Asia.
In addition to, and complementing, her existing role working on the BBC/Discovery jointly owned channels in Asia, Leo-McKerrow will develop, implement and manage BBC Worldwide’s channels business in Asia.
She reports to BBC Worldwide MD global TV channels Darren Childs.
Childs said, “Christine’s appointment is part of BBC Worldwide’s Channels division strategy to establish resources in Asia, where we see numerous opportunities to expand our branded channels presence. Christine’s track record launching branded channels into the region makes her the perfect candidate for this role.”
Leo-McKerrow said, “I am looking forward to introducing more BBC Worldwide branded channels to Asia. This is a vital market, and I am delighted to be developing new channels and gaining maximum exposure for the BBC’s superlative programme content.”
Based in Singapore, her key relationships will be with Worldwide’s regional teams who work across sales, new media, magazines and home entertainment. and the Channels’ team and managers in London.
The BBC Worldwide Board recently identified the channels business as being one of the key areas for growth. General entertainment channels, BBC Prime, BBC America, BBC Japan and BBC Food, are wholly owned by BBC Worldwide.
Joint venture channels exist in the UK with Flextech Television (the UKTV channels), cross borders with Discovery Communications Inc (Animal Planet and People+Arts) in Canada with Alliance Atlantis (BBC Canada and BBC Kids), and in Australia with Foxtel and FremantelMedia (UK·TV). In 2004/2005 the business generated sales of ?140.6 million and a profit of ?4 million.
Tag: BBC Prime
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Leo-McKerrow is BBC Worldwide VP TV channels for Asia
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BBC Worldwide, MEASAT sign agreement for BBC Prime in Asia
MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide and a unit of MEASAT Global Berhad, owner and operator of the MEASAT satellite network, announced an agreement for using MEASAT to broadcast BBC Worldwide’s international entertainment channel BBC Prime into Asia.
The channel is a specially developed version of BBC Worldwide’s international entertainment channel of the same name currently available in Europe, Middle East and Africa and will start broadcasting on 1 December, 2004. The announcement was made at the CASBAA convention in Hong Kong.
BBC Prime will bring the best of BBC entertainment to viewers in Asia, with a varied mix of comedy, drama, life style, talk shows, game shows, music and documentaries. Through the MEASAT-1 satellite, BBC Prime will be offered to TV platforms across the South East and East Asian regions. The channel will be transferred to the MEASAT-3 satellite after launch in mid-2005. The bandwidth has sufficient capacity to accommodate BBC Prime’s plans to provide subtitling for major markets.
BBC Worldwide EMEIA director of channels Wayne Dunsford said, “With MEASAT, we have found a strong and reliable partner to lay the foundation for the roll-out of BBC Prime into Asia and we look forward to a long and successful cooperation.”
MEASAT vice president sales and marketing Paul Brown-Kenyon said, “We are delighted to be able to support BBC Worldwide on this channel. MEASAT-1 provides an excellent distribution platform for BBC Prime across East and South East Asia. It also allows for seamless migration to MEASAT-3 in 2005, a satellite which will reach over 70 per cent of the world’s population through a single beam.”
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BBC Prime widens distribution reach in Germany
MUMBAI: International entertainment channel BBC Prime has secured a deal that widens the channel’s German digital distribution.
BBC Prime, is now available on ish Plus TV. This represents a new initiative from one of Germany’s leading cable net operators ish, to provide digital programming on a large scale to its existing cable network. This deal brings BBC Prime to a potential 1.1 million new homes on the ish TV cable network. An official release informs that the goal is to increase this figure by a further 3.9 million homes as the digital capability is extended.
BBC Worldwide director of channels Wayne Dunsford added, “This is a major step for BBC Prime, putting the channel in a strong position to fully exploit the move to digital. As digital roll-out across the ish network increases, BBC Prime is now placed to enter a major expansion phase in the key German market.”
BBC Prime is broadcast to over 14 million subscribers in more than 100 countries and territories. Over 2200 hours of new programming are transmitted each year, including Parkinson, Top of the Pops, EastEnders, The Weakest Link. In India the latter was adapted by Rupert Murdoch’s Star Plus as Kamzor Kadii Kaun. -
BBC Prime starts broadcasting in Serbia and Montenegro
LONDON: BBC Worldwide, the commercial consumer arm of the BBC has announced the broadcast of its flagship entertainment channel, BBC Prime, in Serbia and Montenegro for the first time.
The announcement follows an agreement signed between BBC Worldwide and major Serbian cable platform, Serbia Broadband (SBB). Through this agreement, BBC Prime is broadcast to over 60,000 SBB subscribers across Serbia and Montenegro.
BBC Worldwide Director of Channels, Wayne Dunsford, said “Serbia and Montenegro is a new market for BBC Prime so this is an important step in building up our business in this region. We look forward to working with SBB to bring BBC Prime to a growing number of subscribers there.”
SBB MD Dragan Solak, added, “SBB is dedicated to providing top quality services to its growing subscribers base in Serbia and Montenegro, and we feel that offering BBC Prime to our customers will contribute greatly to variety of programming in our channel bouquet. We believe that there is a high demand in the Serbian market for premium family channels and we expect BBC Prime to gain a strong position in this segment.”
BBC Prime is broadcast to over 12 million subscribers in more than 100 countries and territories. Over 2200 hours of new programming are transmitted each year, including Parkinson, Top of the Pops, EastEnders, The Weakest Link (adapted here by Star Plus as Kamzor Kadii Kaun). This British cable channel shows award-winning programmes from the BBC. Subtitles are available in English, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Hebrew, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. -
Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 6 broadcast satellite goes into service
PARIS: Eutelsat has announced that the latest addition to its fleet of broadcasting satellites Hot Bird 6 has entered into commercial service and is now beaming television and radio channels to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
The new satellite is positioned at 13 degrees East, home to Eutelsats family of HOT BIRD broadcasting satellites that deliver 670 television channels and 470 radio stations to 93 million cable and satellite homes.
A seamless transfer of all television and radio services from Hot Bird 5 to the satellite took place releasing Hot Bird 5 to a new mission at another orbital location, a Eutelsat release says. Broadcasters to benefit from the improved performance provided by Hot Bird 6 include TPS, Stream TV, RTL, BBC World/BBC Prime, Bloomberg TV, EuroSport, EuroSport News, EuroNews, Deutsche Welle and CNN International. A small number of services have also been transferred from Hot Bird 4 onto Hot Bird 6, notably for TPS, the release says.
A total of 28 of the satellites 32 transponders were powered up. The remaining four, operating in the Ka-band, will enter into service later this month. In addition to fulfilling its primary mission of providing Ku-band capacity for consumer broadcasting, Hot Bird 6 will be able to support a new range of services through a unique combination of the Ka-band frequencies and an enhanced version of Eutelsats SKYPLEX on-board multiplexing facility. Operating via four concentrated uplink beams over Europe, these combined technologies will enable direct access to the satellite by small terminals sited at customer premises. This will facilitate the development of new broadband services for connecting sites and will provide microbroadcasting for enterprises and regional authorities.
Eutelsat provides coverage across four continents, encompassing Europe, the Middle East, Africa, south-west Asia, eastern North America, and South America. Eutelsat’s satellite infrastructure gives it the flexibility to offer direct-to-home broadcasting, video distribution and contribution services, corporate network solutions and a portfolio of IP applications including broadband Internet access and Internet backbone connections.
From its strategic HOT BIRD orbital position at 13 degrees East and other orbital positions, Eutelsat claims to transmit more than 1200 television and 600 radio stations reaching an overall audience of more than 100 million cable and satellite homes.