LONDON – BBC Studios sent a note to its broadcast clients this week offering up portions of its library of content at cost, as a way to help out during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The email, from Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Studios and Paul Dempsey, president of global distribution, BBC Studios said “as we put our minds, as you are, to establishing new ways of working and of remaining effective in serving our customers all around the world, we have been giving urgent thought to how we can offer immediate practical support to you,” said the email.
With that in mind, BBC Studios is making available to its customers a package of new and specially commissioned content from both its BBC Studios productions team and from independent producers. “This will be made universally available, at cost. The content is offered across our customer base on a non-exclusive basis for a license period of six months,” says the email.
“We have bundled together the best of our back catalogue into specially curated themes, designed to meet your audience’s current needs and to provide suitable content to fill unexpected gaps in your broadcast schedules. This will be supplied with clear availability information for your footprint, making your selection easy and able to reach your audiences quickly.”
The executives also promised to keep customers supplied with relevant commentary on Covid-19 and to grant additional linear transmissions on existing licensing contracts to enable you to make more use of currently licensed content.
“We are acutely aware that many of our partners are facing significant challenges from the pandemic. We believe the BBC has an important role to play at this time in offering the very best informative and entertaining content to audiences both in the UK and well beyond. Our team is here to support whatever you need and available to talk about any difficulties you’re facing,” says the message to customers
“As fellow broadcasters, we are navigating uncharted waters together. It has never been so important that we support each other.”
