BBC in YouTube Deal

LONDON, March 2: A slate of clips from the BBC’s
entertainment and news content will be made available online via deals
announced today with the Google-owned content sharing site YouTube.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the non-exclusive
partnerships inked with the BBC and BBC Worldwide. The move is an attempt by
the BBC to bring new audiences to its proposed iPlayer service, and to open up
new revenue opportunities for BBC Worldwide.

Via a BBC-branded channel, clips of new productions and
promotional content for popular shows like Doctor Who and Life on Mars will be available on YouTube. The BBC Worldwide
entertainment channel will show clips from material such as Top Gear, Spooks,
The Catherine Tate Show, The
Mighty Boosh and a range of factual
programs, including those presented by David Attenborough. The channel will
include “a limited amount” of advertising, the BBC said.

On the BBC World channel, meanwhile, YouTube users will be
able to access about 30 news clips per day. The advertising-funded clips will
be available only to users outside the U.K.

"This ground-breaking partnership between the BBC and
YouTube is fantastic news for our audiences,” said Mark Thompson, the
director-general of the BBC. “YouTube is a key gateway through which to engage
new audiences in the U.K. and abroad. The partnership provides both a creative
outlet for a range of short-form content from BBC program makers and the
opportunity to learn about new forms of audience behavior. It's essential that
the BBC embraces new ways of reaching wider audiences with non-exclusive
partnerships such as these."