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Content & Production faces a number of significant challenges in its drive to deliver more hits. The primary task is to secure a consistent pipeline of great format and programme rights and to achieve this, the business has focused on three main areas.

Firstly, it restructured its relationship with BBC Vision Studios, which produces content for BBC television. The new role of Director of BBC Investments was created to work directly with BBC producers and a Content Acquisition Team was also created to provide a single point of contact for internal clients. The new team aims to sustain and support the rich bank of BBC in-house production talent.

Secondly, the Indie Unit, the specialist department within Content & Production that looks after relationships with independent producers, continued to develop strong partnerships within this sector. In 2006/07, the Unit took these relationships to a new level, embarking on new development deals with key producers such as Dangerous Films, Outline Productions, Monkey and Fever Media.

These creative and tailor-made deals involve building close working relationships with indies to develop, produce and promote compelling content that can work for audiences all over the world. BBC Worldwide aims to foster a relationship with producers that both maximises the financial return on their ideas and gives them strategic and creative support.

Deals are not limited to BBC commissions, and BBC Worldwide continues to invest in the best of British content on non-BBC channels for overseas distribution, whether it is from ITV Primeval), Channel 4 (Low Winter Sun) or Five (Diana - Last Days of a Princess).

The Unit has also been proactive in seeking out and concluding deals for digital media rights, signing, among others, agreements with Kudos, Prominent Pictures and Baby Cow.

In the course of the year, the Indie Unit developed a dedicated 24-hour website reporting to indie producers, who can now benefit from immediate access to their programmes' performance.

The third initiative has seen the business set up a Format Development team. This team has three roles: to develop formats in which BBC Worldwide has rights for the wider international market, to manage the exchange of ideas within the global network of production companies that Content & Production is establishing, and to develop a tranche of commercial formats for international broadcasters. The role of the Format Development team is especially vital if the proposed network of global production offices is to thrive.

The first move in creating this network was reaching an outline agreement to secure a 2 5% equity share in the Sydney-based indie, the Freehand Group. Freehand will have a first look on formats held by BBC Worldwide and in return the company will have first look on all Freehand formats and programmes for distribution. In 2006/07, the groundwork was also laid for setting up a number of fully owned and co-venture production bases across the world in the next two years.

OUTLOOK

Looking ahead, there is every sign that the business will achieve significant growth over the next five years.

 

 

* Includes the performance of 2 entertain's TV production business