BBC Motion Gallery Bolsters Sports Footage

LONDON, August 7: BBC
Motion Gallery, the archive sales arm of BBC Worldwide, has signed a deal to
add footage from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to its library of
some 70,000 hours of BBC Sports content.

The five-year, global
archive representation agreement provides access to clips of top players in
world tennis from both the past and present. BBC Motion Gallery will
exclusively distribute footage from the ITF’s three major international team
competitions: Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, the largest annual international team
competition in sport; Fed Cup
by BNP Paribas, the premier
competition in women’s tennis; and
tennis’s only mixed team competition, the Hyundai Hopman Cup.

Mark Shannon, the sports
archive manager for BBC Motion Gallery, said: “This is a fantastic deal for BBC
Motion Gallery. This footage has a global appeal, which is of huge importance
as Motion Gallery grows its overseas presence. We are delighted to add
world-class tennis to our existing portfolio of specialist sports footage.”

“The BBC is a
long-standing broadcasting partner of the ITF and we’re happy to extend our
relationship with one of the world’s most innovative media companies,” said Jan
Menneken, ITF’s commercial director. “Over the years, the BBC has been an avid
supporter of tennis and the BBC Motion Gallery deal provides a great
opportunity to take our archive business to the next level.”

—By Kristin Brzoznowski