ASIA-PACIFIC – BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC signaled its long-term commitment to expanding in India with the announcement of a programme of new investment into its BBC channels, BBC Entertainment and CBeebies.
The commitment is part of BBC Worldwide’s plans to increase its focus internationally. BBC Worldwide’s target is to have two-thirds of its sales come from overseas business by 2012 and India is seen as a key market to help reach this target. BBC Worldwide will announce its investment programme at a reception it hosted July 29 for a UK Government-led trade delegation to India, attended by Prime Minister, David Cameron, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt.
Darren Childs, Managing Director Channels, BBC Worldwide comments: “India is a country which we believe is a great fit for our channels with a large English speaking population, good BBC brand recognition and a strong affinity with the UK. We have identified India as a tier one priority market and will be actively investing to bring more quality content and increasing distribution here.
This news follows the announcement made earlier this week that Deepak Shourie has been appointed Director, South Asia, BBC Worldwide Channels reporting to Mark Whitehead, GM and SVP Asia, BBC Worldwide Channels.
In addition to BBC Entertainment, CBeebies and BBC World News, BBC Worldwide also has a TV production business based in Mumbai. Its productions include three seasons of Dancing with the Stars, Baby Borrowers and Desai Girl. BBC Worldwide also manages BBC.com in India, attracting some 1.2m visitors a month. In 2004 BBC Worldwide entered into a 50:50 magazine publishing joint venture with Times of India, Worldwide Media Ltd, one of the largest magazine publishing companies in India.
