BBC plans southern expansion

[ukpakeha]

The BBC's southern expansion should apply to New Zealand as much as Australia - BBC-branded channels other than BBC World are long overdue. What's the point selling EastEnders to Prime when it only shows it at off-peak time? - TV One used to schedule it just before the six o'clock news, while UKTV in Australia shows it in primetime. As for UKTV, there's plenty of non-BBC programming that it could show instead.

The BBC could have a composite 'BBC New Zealand' channel on Freeview showing a mix of programming from BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies, as well as BBC World, all of which should eventually become available on Sky.

BBC plans southern expansion
Michael Bodey | July 05, 2007
BBC Worldwide has set its sights on significant expansion in the Australian market after posting record pre-tax profits in its annual review for 2006-07.

The commercial arm and wholly owned subsidiary of the BBC will establish Australia as a priority territory, along with the US, Canada and India, with plans for format extensions of its television and theatrical programming and its own channels.

"We're pretty aware of how strong our content resonates in Australia and I think we're pretty dissatisfied with our level of involvement in channels in Australia," said Darren Childs, managing director of BBC Worldwide's Global Channels. "We only own 20 per cent of subscription-television channel UKTV and we think we should have a much bigger play in that market.

"There are a lot of initiatives going on in pay TV and we are also looking at new digital terrestrial opportunities in Australia to significantly increase the size of our channel business there."

In broader terms, chief executive John Smith said the BBC's global TV strategy would "launch a suite of themed channels that are all BBC-branded, allpremium content, all charging subscriptions".

Full article here (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22019045-7582,00.html).

[paulw]

I think it will be very unlikely that we will see full length versions of prgrams like Dr Who and Top Gear shown by BBC NZ here at the same time as they are shown in the UK.. Can't deprive the local networks of their 12 month lag time you know..

[MrElectricity]

UKTV channel and UKTV2 channel are great but only sold as premium packages on Foxtel/Austar in Aust it would be great to get some FTA in the same way as Aljazeerah or Russia Today

[Apsattv]

That article is rather old

There are 5 or six BBC channels that have started up on Cband 76.5 and measat3. Trouble is getting them into NZ.

I contacted them 3 months ago. Yeah it would be good to see BBC Entertainment, BBC Food, Cbeebies , BBc Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge. But they would seriously clash with existing channels on both SKY and Foxtel.

I can't see Sky NZ wanting BBC Food when they already have a food theme channel same with Foxtel. Selectv Might be in with a chance though. But would BBC bother to expanding into the region for just the one DTH provider.

[MrElectricity]

Would be nice if Select added to there line up, but it would seem they are reluctant to do so.

[ukpakeha]

I think it will be very unlikely that we will see full length versions of prgrams like Dr Who and Top Gear shown by BBC NZ here at the same time as they are shown in the UK.. Can't deprive the local networks of their 12 month lag time you know..

True, which is why the stuff on BBC Prime in Europe is so old, even though European broadcasters buy proportionately fewer programmes from the UK than NZ does. (Until 1995, the BBC's European channel showed a mix of BBC 1 and 2, minus US movies and Aussie soaps.) Lucky that Brits in Spain can pick up BBC1 and 2 with the right sized dish.


That article is rather old

Yeah, I should have mentioned - but then again, there's been no increase in the number of BBC-branded channels in Australia since it was published.


There are 5 or six BBC channels that have started up on Cband 76.5 and measat3. Trouble is getting them into NZ.

Apart from BBC World and BBC Entertainment, none of the channels are DTH yet. In fact, Hong Kong is currently the only place in the region where you can watch all five BBC channels on the same pay-TV service - in Singapore, you'd need to subscribe to both cable and IPTV to get all of them!


I contacted them 3 months ago.

BBC Worldwide? Dead from the neck up. This expansion should have been done years ago. At least Darren Childs notices how far behind the BBC is in the Aussie market.


Yeah it would be good to see BBC Entertainment, Cbeebies , BBc Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge. But they would seriously clash with existing channels on both SKY and Foxtel.

Not necessarily - they could just change the programming. That's what the BBC does in Africa - whenever Multichoice has bought the rights to a programme being shown on BBC Prime in Europe, BBC Prime shows a different one. Similarly, BBC Prime in Asia (now BBC Entertainment) was completely different from the channels in Europe and Africa, just as BBC Canada is from BBC America, and UKTV in NZ is from UKTV in Australia.


I can't see Sky NZ wanting BBC Food when they already have a food theme channel same with Foxtel.

BBC Food is going to be phased out in favour of BBC Lifestyle - again, there is some BBC programming on the Lifestyle Channel and the Living Channel, but that could be replaced by other BBC stuff. In any event, a lot of the UK programming common to BBC Lifestyle and the Lifestyle Channel isn't from the BBC at all, it's from Channel 4.


Selectv Might be in with a chance though. But would BBC bother to expanding into the region for just the one DTH provider.

If it's prepared to get involved with digital terrestrial in Australia, it's probably going to look at other platforms, including Foxtel. At least the BBC doesn't just use rights reasons as a reason not to expand into a market, the way that ABC does when anyone suggests showing Australia Network in NZ. :p