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Tag: BBC

  • BBC to launch interactive social reality court show ‘The Verdict’ next year

    MUMBAI: BBC will launch an interactive reality court show, The Verdict next year. The show will be a cross-platform event that will witness 12 carefully selected celebrities sit through the judgement on a complete trial just like a real jury.

    Commissioned from RDF Television, The Verdict will focus on a highly contemporary and controversial case, based on evidence and examples from real life, improvised by top actors and contested by real barristers and a real judge.

    The celebrity jury, will include celebrities with different backgrounds. The first celebrity juror, who has agreed to serve on The Verdict’s jury is former UK Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo. Viewers will actually be able to see how a jury reaches its conclusions.

    The series goes into production soon and will air next year. It will show the highlights from the trial, building from the prosecution case to the moment when the jury will have to retire and reach their judgement.

    The jury will be sequestered together in a hotel and a switch-over programme will show how the jury have reacted to the day’s proceedings in court. An interactive service will ensure that viewers can fully engage with The Verdict, taking part in discussions on the messageboard, finding out background information, registering for email and SMS updates and registering their own verdict on the trial.

    The Verdict has been funded by the Think Big Fund, which has been set up by BBC director of television Jana Benett. The aim is to support big ideas across platforms and channels to ensure they have maximum impact.

        
                
          
     
        
     

  • BBC to launch kids, English entertainment channels in India

    BBC to launch kids, English entertainment channels in India

    MUMBAI: The kids and English general entertainment space in India is about to get a tad more crowded. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC, has announced that it will be launching two channels in India shortly – preschoolers’ channel CBeebies and BBC Entertainment, offering drama and comedy.

    The launches are part of a global rollout of four new TV channels that will include BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle. BBC Worldwide has stated it also plans a high definition channel in the future. The four channels will be broadcast across all media: linear TV, VoD, mobile and online.

    BBC Entertainment and CBeebies are due to be launched in India first. BBC Entertainment will replace BBC Prime in some countries, initially Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Thailand.

    BBC Worldwide said the expansion of the channels would be decided on a country-by-country basis. As part of its plans to ramp up its channels business globally, BBC Worldwide is setting up regional offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Heading operations in Asia is Christine Leo-McKerrow who has been appointed senior VP for tghe region.

    CBeebies will air in India in Hindi and English and will not carry ads. “We will be setting up an advisory board made up of local/Indian psychologists, doctors, teachers, parents etc to advise us on our programming and ensure we remain relevant and trustworthy,” Darren Childs, the managing director of global channels at BBC Worldwide, has been quoted as saying in a media report.

    In the UK CBeebies targets children below the age of six. CBeebies’ basic aim is to educate and entertain the BBC’s youngest audience. The service provides a range of pre-school programming designed to encourage learning through play for children aged five and under, in a consistently safe environment. For the CBeebies launch in India the channel will have a panel of pyschologists, experts to decide on the programming content. The aim is to ensure relevance and trustworthiness.

    BBC Entertainment, meanwhile, will aim to offer the best of British shows in different genres like comedy, drama and light entertainment.

    Localisation: A report in the UK’s Times says that while initially the plan is to air British shows, the BBC is also looking at generating content from India. It might also look to buy Indian production companies if the business successfully kicks in, the report adds.

    Childs was quoted saying that the company is trying to change how it approaches the international channels business and fit things into a local market perspective rather than push them out from London. He also says that the chanel is close to getting a distribution deal.

  • BBC to launch kids, English entertainment channels in India

    MUMBAI: The kids and English general entertainment space in India is about to get a tad more crowded. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC, has announced that it will be launching two channels in India shortly – preschoolers’ channel CBeebies and BBC Entertainment, offering drama and comedy.

    The launches are part of a global rollout of four new TV channels that will include BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle. BBC Worldwide has stated it also plans a high definition channel in the future. The four channels will be broadcast across all media: linear TV, VoD, mobile and online.

    BBC Entertainment and CBeebies are due to be launched in India first. BBC Entertainment will replace BBC Prime in some countries, initially Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Thailand.

    BBC Worldwide said the expansion of the channels would be decided on a country-by-country basis. As part of its plans to ramp up its channels business globally, BBC Worldwide is setting up regional offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Heading operations in Asia is Christine Leo-McKerrow who has been appointed senior VP for tghe region.

    CBeebies will air in India in Hindi and English and will not carry ads. “We will be setting up an advisory board made up of local/Indian psychologists, doctors, teachers, parents etc to advise us on our programming and ensure we remain relevant and trustworthy,” Darren Childs, the managing director of global channels at BBC Worldwide, has been quoted as saying in a media report.

    In the UK CBeebies targets children below the age of six. CBeebies’ basic aim is to educate and entertain the BBC’s youngest audience. The service provides a range of pre-school programming designed to encourage learning through play for children aged five and under, in a consistently safe environment. For the CBeebies launch in India the channel will have a panel of pyschologists, experts to decide on the programming content. The aim is to ensure relevance and trustworthiness.

    BBC Entertainment, meanwhile, will aim to offer the best of British shows in different genres like comedy, drama and light entertainment.

    Localisation: A report in the UK’s Times says that while initially the plan is to air British shows, the BBC is also looking at generating content from India. It might also look to buy Indian production companies if the business successfully kicks in, the report adds.

    Childs was quoted saying that the company is trying to change how it approaches the international channels business and fit things into a local market perspective rather than push them out from London. He also says that the chanel is close to getting a distribution deal.

  • BBC launches a digital version of ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine

    BBC launches a digital version of ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine

    MUMBAI: UK publisher BBC Magazines has launched an online edition of its Top Of The Pops magazine in conjunction with Zinio Systems.

    The company says that Top of the Pops is the UK’s number one teen entertainment title selling almost 120,000 copies every four weeks (ABC Jan-Jun 06) and this digital edition marks another significant step in the title’s digital strategy designed to capture teen interest in new media and technology.

    The digital edition will offer an enhanced and more interactive reading experience in tandem with the newsstand version offering extras such as Rich Media exclusives of the Pussycat Dolls and Neyo music videos. As well as offering increased reach, advertisers will be afforded the unique opportunity of enhancing their print creative like never before with live linking to web addresses and auto-play audio/visual content.

    Following the first complimentary edition, readers can sign up for an annual subscription to the digital edition for just £9.99. Subscribers to the digital version will have the unique opportunity of receiving the online version of the magazine five days before it hits the newsstands. In a market where the immediacy of gossip is so crucial, this will be seen as particularly attractive to the average teenager.

    BBC Magazines Teen Group associate publisher Duncan Gray says: “We’re really excited to be the first teen title to enter this side of the digital marketplace. We see this digital edition as a complimentary purchase that offers up a whole new way for readers to enjoy the magazine by incorporating a range of interactive features.

    “Our readers love the celebrity interviews, fashion, gossip, cringes and real life stories and the digital edition enables us to deliver this directly to their inbox and bring elements of them to life with enhanced interactive content such as embedded music videos and film and TV trailers.”

    Readers can also receive details on downloading the digital edition through the magazine’s website and it will also be promoted through its recently launched email newsletter which has already attracted over 3000 members. Zinio will be promoting the magazine on www.zinio.com and through it’s vast digital database aiming at international sales.

  • BBC launches a digital version of ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine

    MUMBAI: UK publisher BBC Magazines has launched an online edition of its Top Of The Pops magazine in conjunction with Zinio Systems.

    The company says that Top of the Pops is the UK’s number one teen entertainment title selling almost 120,000 copies every four weeks (ABC Jan-Jun 06) and this digital edition marks another significant step in the title’s digital strategy designed to capture teen interest in new media and technology.

    The digital edition will offer an enhanced and more interactive reading experience in tandem with the newsstand version offering extras such as Rich Media exclusives of the Pussycat Dolls and Neyo music videos. As well as offering increased reach, advertisers will be afforded the unique opportunity of enhancing their print creative like never before with live linking to web addresses and auto-play audio/visual content.

    Following the first complimentary edition, readers can sign up for an annual subscription to the digital edition for just ?9.99. Subscribers to the digital version will have the unique opportunity of receiving the online version of the magazine five days before it hits the newsstands. In a market where the immediacy of gossip is so crucial, this will be seen as particularly attractive to the average teenager.

    BBC Magazines Teen Group associate publisher Duncan Gray says: “We’re really excited to be the first teen title to enter this side of the digital marketplace. We see this digital edition as a complimentary purchase that offers up a whole new way for readers to enjoy the magazine by incorporating a range of interactive features.

    “Our readers love the celebrity interviews, fashion, gossip, cringes and real life stories and the digital edition enables us to deliver this directly to their inbox and bring elements of them to life with enhanced interactive content such as embedded music videos and film and TV trailers.”

    Readers can also receive details on downloading the digital edition through the magazine’s website and it will also be promoted through its recently launched email newsletter which has already attracted over 3000 members. Zinio will be promoting the magazine on www.zinio.com and through it’s vast digital database aiming at international sales.

  • BBC announces a wedding themed reality show in the UK

    BBC announces a wedding themed reality show in the UK

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC One has commissioned a new primetime series in which engaged couples volunteer to put all the plans for their wedding day into the hands of their nearest and dearest – only getting to see the results, including the wedding dress, on the big day itself.

    Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? is a five-part series being made by Lion TV. It will give both sides of the family a unique opportunity to genuinely get to know each other.

    The relatives will be given a helping hand by a team of experts led by Nick Knowles, stylist Hannah Sandling and wedding expert James Love. The experts will be there to ensure that the big day runs smoothly, on time and on budget, and be better than the happy couple could have imagined in their wildest dreams.

    Knowles said, “It is supposed to be the happiest day of your life but very often the stresses and strains of organisation and family feuds can make it one of the most trying. We remove the bride and groom from this stress and ramp up all the pressure on the two families by forcing them to make all the decisions with all the consequences you would expect.”

    At the start of the week, Nick will meet the bride and groom to learn about their hobbies, favourite food and colours, personal preferences and outlook. This crucial meeting will be the happy couple’s only input into the elements chosen by our team. From then on, the couple’s own wedding budget will be handed over to their friends and family who will be responsible for making things happen.

    With only five full days to make all the arrangements, Nick Knowles will pull out all the stops and, where necessary, bring in additional expertise to work alongside the family members to make the wedding day special – from top florists, cake makers, DJs, public speakers, bands, artists, to entertainers and jewellers.

    The show will build to the day of the wedding where each of the elements will be revealed to the couple for the first time – along with the odd surprise for both viewers and couple.

    The series producer and director Martin Bisiker said, “A wedding always contains a heady mix of emotion, drama, humour and ceremony but, with the entire process taking just five days to organise, it’s not just the wedding day that becomes the big moment in the film.

    “It’s interesting to see how different families and friends react to a range of tasks throughout the course of the week when there’s just one objective – a perfect wedding.”

  • BBC announces programming strategy around 9/11 anniversary

    BBC announces programming strategy around 9/11 anniversary

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that it will mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11 by special reports and programming.

    9/11 – The Twin Towers airs next month on BBC One. It tells the 11 September 2001 story through the testimonies of survivors, victims’ families, emergency workers and city officials. Stanley Praimnath, a banking executive, recalls how he saw a plane heading towards his office window. Amazingly, he survived, but Melanie de Vere, a 30-year-old British publishing executive helping to host a conference in the Windows on the World suite of the North Tower, was not so fortunate.

    A Path to 9/11 will be aired on 12 and 13 September on BBC Two, starring actor Harvey Keitel, traces the origins of the 9/11 attacks, drawing on the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report. On 9/11 itself, BBC News bulletins and BBC News 24 will feature live reports from Ground Zero in New York, with packages from Jeremy Cooke.

    BBC World will co-present from New York with Katty Kay. Peter Marshall will be reporting for BBC Four’s The World and BBC Radio Five Live’s The Mayo Show will be in Manhattan with reports from Peter Allen in Kabul.

    Other BBC Radio News outlets will feature live reports from the British Memorial Garden in New York.

    On the BBC News website, Stephen Evans – who was in New York on the day in 2001 – will give an overview on how the city has changed since then, how the upstate town of Warwick has coped, what US Muslims feel about the attacks today, and the health effects on those who cleared the dust from the city.

    The site will feature reports on how the rest of the world has changed since the attacks and Peter Taylor will be analysing the current state of play in the ‘war on terror’ and his series on Al-Qaeda will be shown in September on BBC TWO.

    There will also be graphics showing the collapse of the Twin Towers and a guide to the four hijackings that took place on 9/11. BBC World Service has three shows – Have Your Say, a two-hour co-production with WBUR, Boston (9 September); A Very American Witch Hunt: 9/11 Stories presented by Michael Buchanan (8 September); and Assignment with Stephen Evans.

    In addition, BBC World Service is sending extra correspondents to the US including Rob Watson, Defence and Security correspondent, who will be in Washington to report on the ‘war on terror’.

  • Zone Reality acquires a spy show

    Zone Reality acquires a spy show

    MUMBAI: Global media firm Zonemedia has signed their first deal with UK independent producer, Wall to Wall Media.

    Zonemedia has bought the reality game show Spy acquired for broadcast on its Zone Reality channel in India.

    Commissioned by the BBC, the 10 episode one hour series sees a group of ordinary people set the ultimate life-changing challenge – to leave their lives behind, lie to family and friends, relocate to a new city and assume a whole new identity – as they step into the shadows and become spies.

    Replicating the real training processes of MI5, MI6 and the CIA, recruits will find themselves under the most intense psychological pressure – but only one recruit will make it; the rest will have to return to their ordinary lives.

    Zonemedia senior VP channels Steve Cole says, “This groundbreaking show takes reality television to a whole new level as people are challenged to leave everything behind – Zone Reality is the perfect platform for such an innovative idea and I am confident audiences will find Spy riveting viewing”.

    Wall to Wall Media sales executive Nick Pawsey says, “We’re pleased to be in business with Zonemedia on intelligent reality series Spy. This deal now means the show is available in over 100 territories worldwide – a real testament to the universal appeal of the secrets of spying.”

  • BBC starts recruiting for upcoming Arabic television service

    BBC starts recruiting for upcoming Arabic television service

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service has started recruiting senior editorial staff for the BBC Arabic Television service to be launched next year.

    Salah Negm has joined the channel as news editor. He says, “We’ll be initially recruiting output editors – and one for newsgathering. We’re aiming to be fast, modern in style and outlook; strong on analysis with a wide international perspective. It will maintain the BBC values of accuracy, editorial independence, impartiality, while balancing a wide diversity of views.

    “BBC Arabic Television will have broad appeal – free from commercial, political and religious affiliations or pressures. We are now looking for the key senior staff to help us turn this vision into an exciting reality.”

    Applications for the current editor vacancies can be made through bbc.co.uk/jobs. Other journalist and technical roles are to be advertised later this year, and bbcarabic.com gives brief details.

    Negm explains, “The new channel will not simply be another satellite news station. It’s part of a wider vision to introduce a multi-media BBC Arabic Service – drawing on the great traditions and strengths of its radio and online operation to better serve audiences across the Arab world. We will be unique among international broadcasters in the Middle East, a region that witnessed a boom in satellite television news and media consumption in the last few years.

    “BBC World Service Arabic Television will supply high quality rolling news and information. Dynamic, relevant and modern, it will introduce to the Arab television viewers all the values that made BBC Arabic radio an icon in the region over nearly 70 years. It will explain the wider context of events for audiences in a region that is witnessing an extreme polarisation in views and attitudes; bringing into conflict the old and new, tradition and modernity.”

    BBC Arabic already broadcasts 24-hours a day through FM and online. BBC Arabic Television will draw on the BBC’s newsgathering network around the world and will expand its journalistic presence across the Arab world: latest technology will provide its reporters with greater mobility, speed and quality.

    BBC World Service head of Africa and the Middle East Jerry Timmins says: “The measured weekly audience for BBC Arabic radio is over 12 million and bbcarabic.com is one of the region’s most visited websites with monthly page impressions peaking earlier this year at 21 million and rising. With the television station to broaden our appeal further, BBC Arabic is very ambitious to increase its audiences across all media over the next five years.”

    BBC Arabic head Hosam El Sokkari said, “This offer across all media will be designed to cater for the different economic and social conditions across 21 countries. We have a unique opportunity with one service creating content across three media in the same place under a unified editorial leadership and with a shared technical backbone.”

    The BBC had announced plans to launch an Arabic Television operation last eyar as part of BBC World Service’s multi-media strategy for the next three years. BBC World Service is looking to make the its transition from being seen as primarily a radio and online operation to a true multi-media producer, capable of responding to audience demands for information via whatever medium they choose.

    Timmins adds, “The BBC Arabic Service is at the cutting edge of developments at BBC World Service. Our aim is to strengthen our appeal to our audiences using latest technology. With the Arabic Service’s trusted reputation in the Middle East and our new found ability to provide news and information across any device the audience chooses, the BBC will be in a unique position in the Arab World. I believe we have a real advantage given that we will be creating a carefully co-ordinated and compelling multi-media news service.”

    BBC Arabic TV will initially broadcast for 12 hours a day – available free-of-charge to everyone in the Arab World with a satellite or cable connection. A service of BBC news and information in audio and text in Arabic is planned for the remaining 12 hours of the day on the channel. Repeated audience research in seven capital cities across the region indicates that between 80 and 90 per cent of those surveyed would be ‘very likely’ or ‘fairly likely’ to tune in.

    Potential users cited the trusted nature of the BBC brand and its strong record in news coverage for their strong interest. The operating costs of £19 million a year for BBC Arabic TV will come from existing grant-in-aid funding from the UK government. The grant for 2006/2007 is £246 million.

    The newly redeveloped Broadcasting House – the BBC’s central London headquarters – will be the home of the BBC’s Arabic Television service. The whole BBC Arabic service, including the new Arabic language television service, will occupy two floors of the new purpose-built East Wing from launch.

    The service will create multi-media news and current affairs output across radio, television and online for Arabic speakers around the globe.

    Timmins adds, “Broadcasting House is going to be the main centre for the BBC’s national and international news operations when the redevelopment of the building is complete. I’m really pleased that the BBC’s Arabic Service will be the first part of the BBC’s global news division to move in. It will ensure the Arabic Service is close to the heart of the BBC’s overall news operation.

    “The BBC Arabic Service is at the cutting edge of developments at BBC World Service. Our aim is to to strengthen our appeal to our audiences using latest technology. With the Arabic Service’s trusted reputation in the Middle East and our new found ability to provide news and information across any device the audience chooses, the BBC will be in a unique position in the Arab World. I believe we have a real advantage given that we will be creating a carefully co-ordinated and compelling multi-media news service.”

    The new base at Broadcasting House for the BBC’s multi-media Arabic Service will process and edit news feeds from BBC bureaux and studios throughout the Middle East and worldwide – as well as handling material from news agencies and the public via mobile phones and email.

    It will be staffed by around 200 journalists working together to process material for radio, television and online.

  • BBC sinks its teeth into Dracula

    BBC sinks its teeth into Dracula

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC has announced a new version of the classic Bram Stoker 1897 novel, Dracula. Filming begins this month on location in and around the West Country for transmission later in the year on BBC One.

    Marc Warren plays the title role. David Suchet who is best known for the television series Poirot plays vampire scholar and Dracula’s nemesis, Van Helsing.

    Returning to the original novel for his inspiration, Stewart Harcourt’s script draws both on elements of Bram Stoker’s own life and Victorian society to give this version of the vampire classic a new, modern sensibility.

    Executive producer Julie Gardner said, “Stewart Harcourt’s adaptation is a visceral, sexy and bold re-telling of Bram Stoker’s classic chiller which will blow the cobwebs off traditional period drama. And we’ve brought together a cast of thrilling young talent to bring it to life.”