(July 22, 2014) Tia Maggini, formerly of Josephson Entertainment, joins the network as VP of original movies. She’ll be based in Los Angeles, where she’ll report to Tanya Lopez, Lifetime’s senior VP of original movies.

Read more at World Screen

(July 22, 2014) NBCUniversal’s second-quarter revenues were stable at $6 billion, as gains in its cable networks and broadcast television segments were offset by lower revenues from its film studio.

Read more at World Screen

(July 22, 2014) Multi Screen Media (MSM) is building up its motion pictures team under deputy president and head of MSM Motion Pictures Sneha Rajani.

In the latest development, the company has appointed former Fox Star Studios executive Vivek Krishnani as senior vice president – marketing and revenue for the motion pictures division.

Read more at Television Post

Significantly increased returns to the BBC and Independents

Financial results

• Headline profit up 0.7% to £157.4m, and up 11.6% at constant currency
• Headline profit margin up from 14.0% to 15.1%
• Returns to the BBC up 11.4% to £173.8m, equivalent to 10.1% of BBC Television’s content funding in the year
• Investment in content up 13.7% to £200.6m, including a 19.5% increase in BBC commissions to £88.9m
• Returns to the independent production sector up 28.1% to £116.4m

Business highlights

• Sherlock was licensed to 224 territories in the year, more than any other programme
• Guinness World Record for Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode simulcast and cinema screening
• An eighth straight year of ratings growth at BBC AMERICA, up 13.5%
• BBC.com ended the year with an average of 79.8m unique users
• New genre brands BBC Brit, BBC Earth and BBC First developed; BBC First to launch in Australia next month
• Approvals granted for the UK version of BBC Store, UK launch set for 2015

Click to tweet: BBC Worldwide headline profit up 1%, or 12% at constant fx; returns £173.8m to @BBC http://bbc.in/Um0IZj via @BBCWpress

BBC Worldwide has today published its 2013/14 Annual Review, revealing a year of solid underlying growth, and increased returns to the BBC.

Headline profit increased 0.7% to £157.4m (2012/13: £156.3m), and was up 11.6% at constant currency*. Headline profit margin increased from 14% to 15.1%, a record for the company. This was achieved on headline sales of £1,042.3m (2012/13: 1,115.8m), down 6.6%, or 5.2% at constant currency, principally reflecting portfolio changes: the sale of Lonely Planet and a new revenue share agreement for BBC.com. Adjusting for these, trading revenue was broadly flat, with growth from non-English language markets, sales to digital platforms and advertising helping to offset pressure on US and UK affiliate fees and declining DVD markets.

These results were delivered despite the strengthening of sterling in the year. Movements in foreign exchange rates had a £17.1m negative impact on the headline profit.

Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide, said: “BBC Worldwide performed well, reflecting the quality of our content and enabling reinvestment into the UK television industry. Headline profit at constant currency, shareholder returns and returns to the indie sector all grew by double digits. This was achieved at the same time as a major re-shaping of the company along regional lines.
“We will continue to execute on our strategy – more premium content, dynamic global brands and digital innovation – in the course of the new financial year. While our results for 2014/15 will reflect the choices and investments we are making to do this – including BBC Store and the introduction of new brands – we nonetheless expect to deliver further returns to our shareholder over the course of the year.”

Returns to the BBC:
BBC Worldwide is pleased to announce an increase of 11.4% in returns to the company’s parent, the BBC, to £173.8m (2012/13: £156.0m), equivalent to 10.1% of the year’s content funding for BBC Television. This includes a significant increase in its investment in BBC commissioned content, up 19.5% on the prior year to £88.9m (2012/13: £74.4m), further supporting the BBC’s desire to air ambitious, high quality content to UK audiences. Stand-out titles supported by BBC Worldwide included award-winning Top of the Lake, a third series of Sherlock, the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor and landmark natural history series Hidden Kingdoms. Dividends of £58.5m were up 2.1% on the previous year (2012/13: £57.3m).

Inspiring Global Audiences:
In October 2013, BBC Worldwide launched a new strategy focused on inspiring audiences through offering more high quality content, increasing the brand portfolio and developing more digital avenues for audiences to access content, with bbc.co.uk and BBC.com at its heart.

Progress has been made across all three aspects of the strategy:

Content:

• Investment in content increased by £24.2m to £200.6m (2012/13: £176.4m), exceeding the £200m target set for 2014/15 one year early.
• In 2013/14 BBC Worldwide represented over 250 British independent production companies, with over 40 output and development deals in place, with those struck in the year including start-ups Lonesome Pine and Voltage TV.
• New content partnerships included an agreement with CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, for joint development partnership of natural history titles.

Brands:

• BBC Worldwide delivered over 40 channel feeds across 123 territories in the year.
• BBC AMERICA’s ratings grew a further 13.5%, delivering eight consecutive years of growth.
• 2013/14 saw leading franchise brand Doctor Who celebrate its 50th Anniversary in November. BBC Worldwide delivered a simulcast in 98 countries and 15 languages, receiving a Guinness World Record for the largest ever simultaneous transmission of a TV drama.

Digital:

• BBC.com reached an average of 78.9m unique users by year-end, including 4.7m to the non-news sections: Travel, Future, Autos and two new sections launched in the year, Culture and Capital.
• E-commerce also continued to do well with BBCShop.com in the UK delivering 30.4% growth.
• Approval was granted for the UK version of BBC Store, which will offer UK audiences access to around 10,000 hours of content to buy and keep at launch in 2015.

A new organisation:
2013/14 also marked the company’s first full-year operating as a regionalised business, enabling a clearer focus on clients, partners and audiences. This is the first time BBC Worldwide has reported results on a regional basis, with seven regions segmented into the four areas below: UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand and rest of the world, collectively known as Global Markets.

While all our regions delivered a solid operating performance, we saw a particularly good performance from Global Markets, with both Western Europe and emerging markets growing very strongly. The other business areas all delivered stable results despite trading conditions that were tough for some of our established businesses:

UK:

• Our UK business is successfully reducing dependency on DVD to become an increasingly diversified and digital business; headline sales of £362.2m (2012/13: £380.3m) and profit of £55.2m (2012/13: 57.9m), down 4.8% and 4.7% respectively, also reflect a one-off charge relating to the bankruptcy of audiobook publisher AudioGO, in which we held a minority stake.
• UKTV, the award -winning media company of which we own 50% with Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., grew its share of the commercial TV market to an all-time high of 8.2%.
• BBC Good Food and Top Gear magazines both continued to outperform their competition in circulation.

North America:

• BBC Worldwide North America held its own while facing tough and fragmented market conditions. Headline sales of £342.5m (2012/13: £361.2m) and headline profit of £50.7m (£53.5m), both down 5.2%, were affected by the impact of a new revenue share agreement for BBC.com, most pronounced in its largest advertising market, and a £4.8m production tax credit which reduced revenue by the same amount.
• Ratings for North America’s flagship cable channel, BBC AMERICA climbed 13.5%, delivering eight consecutive years of growth as BBC AMERICA showcased more original TV dramas than any other cable channel, and had the highest number of critically acclaimed programmes on US ad-supported television in 2013, among them Peabody Award-winning original drama Orphan Black.
• It was another strong year for digital sales, with VOD and DTO together up 36.7% in local currency.

Global Markets:

• Global Markets delivered a 10.8% increase in headline sales of £279.1m (2012/13: £251.8m), with profit up 45.2% to £39.5m (2012/13: £27.2m).
• The fourth series of Danse avec les Stars (Dancing with the Stars) delivered an average audience of 6.3m in France.
• Top Gear delivered BBC Knowledge’s highest ever ratings on Poland’s Cyfrowy Polsat platform in March.
• Sherlock was Asia’s stand-out hit with S3 attracting over 67m hits on China’s digital platform YouKu in the year, and to date close to 70m.
• And in Latin America, BBC Entertainment was named the Best Pay TV channel in Mexico’s Premios Anuales for the second consecutive year.

Australia and New Zealand:

• Australia and New Zealand together form a key region for BBC Worldwide. The year’s performance shows that we are moving in the right direction, with strategy building blocks for the future in place. Headline sales of £76.0m (2012/13: £132.7m) and headline profit of £12.4m (£17.8m) were down 42.7% and 30.3%; excluding the impact of the Lonely Planet disposal and foreign exchange, headline sales were up 4%.
• BBC Worldwide ANZ secured a number of important deals including an agreement with pay TV platform Foxtel which will become launch partner for BBC First, a second look with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and a production partnership with FremantleMedia Australia.
• BBC Knowledge in Australia witnessed ratings increase by 14.4% on the prior year.
• The DVD market also included some notable successes including a 95.5% growth in sales for Call The Midwife and 59.6% growth in Doctor Who title sales.

Tim Davie commented: “All our regions put in a competitive performance with Global Markets particularly impressive in the year. Despite facing tougher trading conditions in some of our established businesses, I am pleased that we held or grew margin in all four regional segments. Longer term I am confident that a greater local focus will bring benefits from closer connections to consumers and clients alike, and from taking more decisions in market.”

-Ends-

For further information please contact:
BBC Worldwide Press Office: 020 8433 2719
Email: Charlotte.Elston@bbc.com /Cassandra.Power@bbc.com
Mobile: 07540 125748/ 07739 300280

Asia contact –
Jeanne Leong
BBC Worldwide Asia
Tel: +65 6849 5292
Email: Jeanne.Leong@bbc.com

*The constant currency measure shows what 2013/14 results would have been if exchange rates had been the same as in 2012/13.
The full Annual Review, as well as the BBC Worldwide Annual Report and Financial Statements, can be found here: www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview

Due to the organisational restructure in April 2013, this year’s Annual Review highlights the changes to the business under the new regional organisation.

About BBC Worldwide. BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its vision is to build the BBC’s brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world. This is achieved through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values. The business also champions British creativity globally.

In 2013/14, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £157.4m and headline sales of £1,042.3m and returned £173.8m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview
bbcworldwide.com
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Thailand, 21 July 2014 – BBC Worldwide today announced the first global sale of the Junior Bake Off TV format to creative content production company, Content LAB, in Thailand. The series will be produced by Content LAB and will air on new digital terrestrial channel, NOW 26, in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Junior Bake Off builds on the success of popular BBC series The Great British Bake Off, and gives children between seven and 12, who love baking, the same opportunities as the adult version – the chance to become a champion while inspiring their peers to get baking themselves. The first series of Junior Bake Off was a success when it premiered in the UK in 2011, averaging over 280,000 viewers across its first-run episodes. It currently has two series under its belt.

“We are very pleased that Thailand, a key market for us in Asia, is the first country in the world to see a local Junior Bake Off on its screens. We are excited to bring this unique experience to our Thai viewers, and are confident of the success of Junior Bake Off Thailand,” said Monty Ghai, SVP and GM, South East Asia, BBC Worldwide, Asia.

“Junior Bake Off Thailand is one of our key programmes for our new digital TV channel: NOW 26. We are very excited to work with BBC Worldwide and are sure that viewers in Thailand will enjoy this series,” said Duangkamol Chotana, President of Nation Multi Media Group.

“We are very pleased that we are working with BBC Worldwide to produce a world class production of this internationally successful format. Gavin Wood, our Executive Producer at Content LAB will oversee the entire production of the series. He has a wealth of local and international experience. Together with all the expertise both from the BBC and from us working on this production, we are confident of delivering a world-class series that viewers will love,” Noppakorn Thongman, Managing Director of Content LAB, said. “BBC Worldwide has many proven formats and our future long term relationship with them will bring many more exciting shows to Thailand.”

Duncan Cooper, BBC Worldwide’s Executive Producer for Formats & Local Production, will oversee the production with the Content LAB team. “I am very excited to be working with Content LAB to create a compelling series that will be true to the Junior Bake Off format and high standards of production”, Duncan said. “I am certain Junior Bake Off Thailand will be a fun, engaging, and highly entertaining series that will delight Thai viewers of all ages.”

Part of JSL Global Media Group, Thailand-based Content LAB is a global production content laboratory that produces high-end long and short form media content.

NOW 26 is a new digital terrestrial channel in Thailand offering viewers a variety of programmes from lifestyle and entertainment to news and business trends.

Junior Bake Off Thailand will premiere on NOW 26 in the fourth quarter of 2014.

– Ends –

Further information:
Jeanne Leong
BBC Worldwide
Tel: +65 6849 5292
Email: Jeanne.Leong@bbc.com

Cassandra Wong
BBC Worldwide
Tel: +65 6849 5295
Email: Cassandra.Wong@bbc.com

About BBC Worldwide

About BBC Worldwide Ltd. BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). BBC Worldwide exists to support the BBC public service mission and to maximise profits on its behalf. It does this through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values. The business also builds the reach and reputation of the BBC brand overseas and champions British creativity.

In 2012/13, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £156m and headline sales of £1,116m and returned £156m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview

bbcworldwide.com
twitter.com/bbcwpress

(July 21, 2014) ARRIS Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS) and Wurl, Inc. today announced the launch of ARRIS Market—a new open platform for cable operators combining over-the-top (OTT) content with traditional programming services on ARRIS set-tops.

The platform is standards-based and features an HTML5 interface that integrates thousands of OTT content choices into a single, seamless experience. ARRIS Market gives operators unprecedented flexibility in branding the look and feel of the environment with the ability to customize the organization of the content.

Read more at The Jakarta Post

(July 22, 2014) Trials of new technology being undertaken by Telstra and Ericsson could enable pay TV, broadband internet and other services to be delivered without customers needing a set-top box at home.

It could also allow them to access their pay TV channels, broadband service and other online services from any location on the Telstra network, potentially making it possible for people to have one subscription for multiple locations and services.

Telstra and Ericsson are trialling the application of so-called network functions virtualisation (NFV) to customer premises equipment (CPE). It is a concept that is rapidly gaining momentum, having been first proposed by a group of telcos, including Telstra, in a white paper in October 2012.

Read more at Brisbane Times

(July 18, 2014) The performance of the BBC’s four main TV channels remains strong, according to a review of the services by BBC Trust, but key challenges remain, including reaching younger and minority audiences, and the need for more “creative risks” to be taken in BBC One’s programming.

Read more at World Screen

(July 18, 2014) Japan International Broadcasting, the distribution company of Japanese public broadcaster NHK’s international channels and UN Headquarters signed a five-year partnership to air the English language NHK World TV through the UN In-House Network channel.

Read more at ABU

(July 18, 2014) The global satellite giant SES has selected Airbus Defence and Space to build a new hybrid communications satellite to service expanding markets in Asia.

Read more at ABU