Complete Coverage: IBC2011
In a bid strengthen its global distribution efforts, the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, has selected the digital supply chain service provider Sony DADC to implement and operate a unified global asset management and distribution platform for the distribution of its content.
The platform is expected to go live by the end of 2011.
BBC Worldwide is major distributor of content to a variety of platforms around the world and as part of its digital content syndication efforts already has deals with iTunes, Netflix in the U.S., Amazon in the U.S., LoveFilm in the U.K., Sohu.com in China, Yota in Russia, Videx in Japan and others.
The company is hoping that the creation of a unified distribution platform will allow further expand its distribution activities business while speeding up the delivery of programs to global markets and allowing it to deal with the increasingly complex requirements of supporting new formats, consumer devices and delivery platforms.
"At BBC Worldwide, volumes of content are rising quickly -- from a current level of 74,000 hours per year of programming licensed across all platforms -- and time to market is rapidly shrinking," said Abigail Hughes, senior VP of sales operations and digital distribution at BBC Worldwide. "To maintain optimal business performance, we want to deliver more content to all of our partners faster."
"By providing a system where people throughout our business can see the program assets we have available, then get it to market faster, in more ways, we can truly realize the potential of our global brand and our outstanding content resources," Hughes added.
Sony DADC is providing BBC Worldwide with a comprehensive set of services that will enable the company to track its content, exchange content more effectively, optimize workflows, and interact more efficiently with its clients and partners around the globe.
"Leveraging our extensive experience and solutions with large studios, Sony DADC provides BBC Worldwide the ability to benefit from a true global digital supply chain platform that will standardize their inventory, provide real-time management of their fulfillment, and support their impressive growth across all new opportunities," explained Trey Bradley, executive VP, video supply chain services, Sony DADC in a statement.
