Operations
BBC 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. At present the business is divided into five operating businesses which cover the entire operations of the company: Channels; Content and Production; Brands, Consumers and New Ventures, Consumer Products and Sales and Distributions.
The Channels division was formed in 2005 and is the company's largest generator of revenue and growth. It operates the broadcasting of several international channels and domestic networks:
- BBC America
- BBC Canada – 20% with Shaw Media
- BBC Entertainment
- BBC HD
- BBC Kids – 20% with Knowledge Network Corporation
- BBC Knowledge
- BBC Lifestyle
- CBeebies
- British UKTV network of 10 channels – 50% with Scripps Networks Interactive
- UKTV in Australia and New Zealand
- Distributes BBC World News
The Content and Production division was formed in 2006 and invests the company's money into new productions by both the BBC and other independent productions. It also exploits the formats of BBC programmes and alters them to be suitable for an international audience - an example is the exploitation of the Strictly Come Dancing brand to become Dancing with the Stars - maximising revenues by receiving a production fee from the local broadcaster as well as a sum from selling the initial re-versioning rights. The division works alongside the Sales and Distribution division, which sells the broadcasting rights to completed programmes made by the BBC and other producers - an example being the Red Production Company drama Mine All Mine for the ITV network in 2004. It includes the selling of individual clips through the BBC Motion Gallery to other broadcasters. In the financial year 2010/11, this division sold the rights to over 74,000 hours worth of television content.
The other two divisions of the company deal with the individual programme brands: Global Brands focuses on the international recognition of the brands while the Consumer Products division produces a variety of goods based around these brands. The work of the former includes expanding the brands into new areas - the Top Gear Live tour is a key example of this. The latter creates and sells a variety of consumer products, occasionally as a stake or partnership in another company, including VHS and DVD releases, spoken word and music audio products, CD-ROMs, videogames, books and magazines.
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