BBC Worldwide Restructures its Children’s Business

LONDON, September 26: In
an effort to maximize the potential of its brands, BBC Worldwide has
restructured its kids’ business under the moniker Children’s and Licensing,
with Neil Ross Russell as its head.

The name change reflects
the importance of maximizing global licensing opportunities for adult brands
such as Top Gear and Planet
Earth, in addition to
award-winning hits such as In the Night Garden, Teletubbies, Doctor Who and Charlie
and Lola, in order to pump profits
back into children’s programming at the BBC.

“Coming to this role, it
was clear to me that we have a exceptional pipeline of content from the BBC
with brands like Planet Earth
and Top Gear, and from Indies with our partners such as Tiger
Aspect and Ragdoll,” said Neil Ross Russell, the managing director of
Children’s and Licensing ay BBC Worldwide. “The growing success of BBC channels
internationally also provides us with great broadcast platforms but we are not
currently set up to make the most of licensing opportunities outside of the
U.K.”

Speaking of the new
structure Ross Russell added: “At a time when there are more brands than ever
in the market, this new structure will allow us to provide each brand in our
portfolio the focus and attention it deserves.”

BBC Worldwide also
announced it will also oversee U.S and Canada TV sales and licensing for all
properties of its joint-venture partner Ragdoll. This gives BBC Worldwide
global distribution rights, excluding U.K. broadcast, for all Ragdoll shows,
including the hit properties Teletubbies and In the Night Garden.

Mark Hollingsworth, CEO of
Ragdoll said: “Following the creation of the joint venture between Ragdoll and
BBC Worldwide, it is a natural progression for Ragdoll to merge its North
American Division with the Children’s and Licensing team at BBC Worldwide in
New York. This further strengthens our partnership with BBC Worldwide as we
extend our collaboration in managing the Ragdoll portfolio in the U.S and
Canada.”

BBC Worldwide Children’s
and Licensing will also explore new opportunities for brands in the U.S. with
the recruitment of a newly created role of Global Head of Licensing. The role
will be based in BBC Worldwide’s New York office and sit alongside Susanna
Pollack, the Senior VP of TV Sales, Co-Productions & Children’s and her
team.

—Anna Carugati