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BBC Worldwide in programming deal with CCTV

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The BBC team at China Showcase

Beijing – BBC Worldwide’s deal provides China’s state television broadcaster with more than 65 hours of BBC programmes.

The deal was announced at BBC Worldwide’s China Showcase. The event, held for the third time, saw BBC Worldwide unveil hundreds of new programme offerings from a variety of genres to over 100 industry partners in the country. The event also served as a forum to exchange ideas for future collaborations.

This new programming deal with CCTV involves factual programmes, with natural history making up the bulk of the package. With titles that include Attenborough’s Ark, Jaguars – Born Free, Penguins – Spy in the Huddle and Giant Otters of the Amazon, it is the largest package of natural history programming that the state broadcaster has acquired this year.

“Natural history programming has been growing in popularity in China, partly due to BBC and CCTV’s strong relationship in China,” said Pierre Cheung, VP and GM of BBC Worldwide, Greater China. “We’ve been providing increasing amounts of natural history and factual programmes to our trusted partner, and this deal gives Chinese viewers even more access to award-winning quality natural history programming from the BBC’s Natural History Unit, as well as access to top quality programmes from our other genres.”

“We have a long history with the BBC, and have collaborated with them for many years now,” said Mr. LIU Den, Managing Director, CCTV Documentary Channel.  “In the years that we’ve worked together, we’ve seen an interest in documentary increase among our Chinese viewers. BBC’s factual programmes are especially popular among the Chinese audience. We are excited to be working with BBC Worldwide yet again and hope to continue to grow our relationship with the BBC in all aspects.”

This deal comes shortly after the announcement in April 2013 of a co-production agreement with CCTV9 for Hidden Kingdoms, BBC’s third co-production deal with CCTV – which involves the production of 2D and 3D versions of the series, due to be delivered by mid-2014.