BBC Worldwide Brings Glastonbury Coverage to International Broadcasters

LONDON: Through deals signed by BBC Worldwide, performances from the Glastonbury festival, including U2’s first-ever outing at the British concert event, were broadcast in four territories outside the U.K.

BBC Worldwide completed a deal with Setanta to to bring the whole of U2’s unique performance live and uninterrupted to viewers in the Republic of Ireland. Coldplay’s performance was broadcast live via satellite to viewers across Brazil on MultiShow and MultiShow HD. The Coldplay performance was simultaneously delivered live via satellite and broadcast in full in the U.S. on both VH1 and Palladia. The German channel ZDFKultur had a full five hours of Glastonbury performances. DFKultur presenters were at the festival to introduce performances from the likes of Biffy Clyro, Rumer, Tinie Tempah, Paolo Nutini and Elbow. The broadcast was concluded with the whole of Coldplay’s performance being screened live on ZDFKultur.

Salim Mukaddam, the VP of music television at BBC Worldwide, said: “In only our second year of partnering with the Glastonbury Festival, we’ve been able to make these amazing performances available to a greater audience than ever before. We’re really pleased that this year, music fans from the USA, Brazil, Ireland and Germany have all been able to feel involved in the world’s greatest music festival by watching live performances from Glastonbury. It’s our ability to deliver these kinds of opportunities to artists and labels that makes BBC Worldwide the first choice in music television distribution.”

BBC Worldwide will also be offering an hour-long Glastonbury highlights title and a 5×1-hour extended Glastonbury highlights package. This highlights programming has already been picked up by broadcasters in the U.S., Japan, Latin America, Spain and Brazil.