BBC

Television Subscription and International
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Yes, no regional TV today in England at least and as the strike began in the middle of many local radio shows they went off air mid show.

Back to the impartiality row and it won’t get the coverage Lineker did but it is the crux of the matter - far more serious in fact - and records are now beginning to emerge of the government dictating what langugage the BBC should use in reporting stories, specifically the first “lockdown”, which the BBC didn’t call a lockdown under Tory instruction. Also journalists were told to be more sceptical of opposition proposals for the easing of lockdown.

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To get context on what is the reasoning behind the strike, it is due to the impeding merger of the BBC News Channel with BBC World News, and a plan to cut the number of hours on local radio content, introducing more regionalized and networked programming. Even if the plans were revised, this didn’t make the unions well. The strike, which is being called indefinitely, could also disrupt coverage of the coronation of the King and the Eurovision Song Contest.

In the middle of this, and back to presentation-related things, the BBC kids channels have quietly rebranded and been unified into the new Chameleon brand system. CBeebies has dropped the Lambie-Nairn presentation used since its launch in 2002, including its logo, and the blob elements were made fully square. Over to the CBBC channel (which is set to close later next year), they got a new look based on fluid elements and a color palette very similar to BBC Three.

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The BBC has today published its Annual Plan for 2023/24 which commits to providing a wealth of programming and services for all audiences across the UK.

Highlights for 2023/24 include:

  • Opening up more of our workings to make BBC News the most transparent newsroom in the world, building trust and impartiality
  • Bringing the nation and audiences around the world together in May for The Coronation of The King and The Queen Consort and Eurovision 2023, unique high-impact content that only the BBC can do
  • Accelerating the pace of change across our online services with an additional £50m investment per year by 2025/26
  • Delivering the first year of BBC Studios’ ambitious five-year growth plan, with the aim to grow commercial income in the long-term
  • Implementing the next phase of our Across the UK strategy, with new programmes portraying life across the country and reflecting its different communities, experiences and stories

You can find a copy of the Annual Plan here

Content highlights in the year ahead include:

  • On screen, new dramas include; Jack Thorne’s Best Interests, Shane Meadows’ The Gallows Pole, Sarah Phelps’ The Sixth Commandment, and musical drama in Champion from Candice Carty-Williams
  • For comedy, we have Undoing Martin Parker from Paul Coleman and Sian Gibson; Queen of Oz from Catherine Tate and Jeff Gutheim; and comedy thriller Black Ops
  • Factual and Arts highlights include Planet Earth III, Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, BBC Scotland co-commission Murder Case, arts series Picasso: Monstrous Genius and Treasures of the National Trust
  • We will invest in British-produced children’s animation with comedy Super Magic Happy Forest, and drama Digi Girl
  • From the world of sport, we’ll show unrivalled cross-platform coverage of the Premier League, Women’s Super League, FA Cups, Wimbledon, Six Nations Rugby, Open Golf Championships, World Athletics Championships and the Hundred
  • In audio, Radio 1’s Big Weekend will head to Scotland, with around 80,000 music fans attending at Dundee’s Camperdown Park. On Radio 3, there will be live and recorded broadcasts from summer classical music festivals, including Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Manchester, Edinburgh, East Neuk and Huddersfield
  • For local, we will launch dedicated online services for Bradford, Wolverhampton, Sunderland and Peterborough
  • Scotland will mark the centenary of the first Gaelic broadcast with special content and events, Wales promises the biggest year of Welsh drama on the BBC to date, and Northern Ireland will reflect on the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
  • The World Service will launch a new cross-platform education and topical programme for the secondary-age girls of Afghanistan, in Dari and Pashto
  • For education, BBC Sounds and BBC Bitesize will launch a new series of GCSE revision podcasts focussed initially on English, history and study skills
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The British broadcaster disclosed the figure to Deadline after it was not included in its annual plan, which was published earlier on Thursday and laid bare the scale of the cuts to come.

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DEB TOD appointed as DIRECTOR OF CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS AND SALES

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Deb Tod has been promoted to the new role of Director of Content Partnerships and Sales for BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, adding affiliate deals to her existing responsibilities for the strategic and team leadership of BBC Studios content sales and co-productions in the region.

Deb’s role ensures maximum impact and exploitation of BBC Studios’ content through multi-genre, multi-year deals. As part of the international sales team Deb also inputs into global deals, content partnerships and co-productions on behalf of ANZ and is a core member of the ANZ executive leadership team.

Fiona Lang, General Manager BBC Studios ANZ, said: “Deb is an expert in working with our partners in the region to find the best home for our content. Under her leadership we have secured strong, ongoing relationships with every major FTA and SVOD platform in the market. Adding carriage renewal deals to Deb’s responsibilities means she will be able to take a holistic, strategic view across all our content partnerships to ensure we are driving the best returns from our programming and I am delighted that she is taking on this new role.”

Deb Tod, Director of Content Partnerships and Sales said: “I’m excited for this new role, and what the future holds. The industry is constantly evolving and BBC Studios has a huge catalogue of quality, in-demand content across every genre and a brand that resonates with audiences. Our ambitious global growth plans mean that pipeline is ever expanding, with a string of recent deals adding to our stable of wholly owned and invested indies alongside development deals with the UK’s best creative talents allowing us to have deeper, richer conversations with our partners.”

Deb has been with BBC Studios ANZ for more than eight years, first joining as a Senior Sales Executive before quickly rising through the ranks. During her time with the company she has overseen the negotiation of numerous key deals including last year’s renewal of a multi-genre, multi-year deal with ABC; natural history deals with Nine and TVNZ and a multi-year deal with Foxtel for Lifestyle content including exclusive access to The Bake Off brand.

Deb is supported in her new role by Senior Content Sales Manager Stephen O’Hanlon, Sales Managers Bruno Liporoni and Melissa Caracatsanis, and Sales Planning and Client Marketing Manager Donna Meaker.

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BBC Nordic is launching in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, replacing BBC Brit and BBC Earth. On streaming side, BBC Nordic+ will be launched, focusing on factual and entertainment:

By now, the teaser and promos are out on their Youtube channel.

A bit similar, but a tad different to the domestic Chameleon form.

The spliced partial N in the teaser looked like SRF1 in Switzerland though, only mirrored:

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BBC confirms the return of Waterloo Road for another term

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The BBC has announced that Waterloo Road will return to BBC One and iPlayer this May, for a new series consisting of seven episodes. Alongside some familiar faces, the school will welcome back Jamie Glover as the much-loved character of Andrew Treneman, last seen in the series in 2009.

The ex-deputy head, English teacher, and former flame of Kim Campbell will return to Waterloo Road, but is Mr. Treneman back to help a struggling Kim take control of the school, or is he back to stir things up?

The popular drama series returned in January after an eight-year hiatus following a revival in audiences on BBC iPlayer during the first lockdown. The series remains especially popular with younger viewers, and is the BBC’s second biggest drama title with 16-34 year olds of the year so far, behind only Happy Valley.

Known for its hard hitting storylines and relatable characters, the show reflects modern society with its portrayal of issues including the cost of living crisis, teen homelessness, racism, sexism, being LGBTQ+, mental health, and everything else facing young teens today. But amongst the chaos, the students, faculty and parents still make time for friendships, fun, and a few romances.

Returning for another term will be Angela Griffin (Kim Campbell), Adam Thomas (Donte Charles), Kym Marsh (Nicky Walters), Vincent Jerome (Lindon King), James Baxter (Joe Casey), Jo Coffey (Wendy Whitwell), Shauna Shim (Valerie Chambers), Neil Fitzmaurice (Neil Guthrie), Rachel Leskovac (Coral Walker), Katherine Pearce (Amy Spratt), Ryan Clayton (Mike Rutherford) and Sonia Ibrahim (Jamilah Omar).

Also joining the cast this series will be Paul Bazely (Benidorm, Black Mirror, Cruella, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Jenny Platt (Coronation Street, The Bay) as parents of pupils, whilst Olwen May (Coronation Street, Happy Valley, Emmerdale) and James Quinn (Early Doors, Coronation Street) are set to make an appearance at the school.

New student Myles Massey played by Osian Morgan joins established pupils including Adam Abbou (Danny Lewis), Priyasasha Kumari (Samia Choudhry), Noah Valentine (Preston Walters), Adam Ali (Kai Sharif), Alicia Forde (Kelly-Jo Rafferty), Francesco Piacentini-Smith (Dean Weever), Liam Scholes (Noel McManus) and Lucy Eleanor Begg (Caz Williams).

Scarlett Thomas plays Izzy Charles and fellow junior student casting includes Summer Violet Bird (Tonya Walters), Ava Flannery (Verity King), Thapelo Ray (Dwanye Jackson), Inathi Rozani (Zayne Jackson), Chiamaka (ChiChi) Ulebor (Shola Aku) and Sahil Ismailkhil (Norrulah Ashimi).

Angela Griffin says: “It’s great to be back on BBC One and to be able to offer iPlayer fans some great new episodes. We have such a wonderful and talented cast, all of whom bring so much to Waterloo Road. This series holds a fair few surprises for Kim and everyone around her and I can’t wait for people to catch up with all the action inside and outside the school.”

Jamie Glover says: “I am so excited to be returning to Waterloo Road. The school has been such an important part of my life and it’s wonderful to be able to rekindle the old flame. Not to mention the joy of getting to work with the incomparable Angela Griffin once more. I hope that people will enjoy seeing Andrew and Kim together in the school again. Older? Certainly, there’s the grey hair to prove it…! Wiser? Who knows?”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: “We are thrilled that Waterloo Road is returning following its successful run earlier this year. To have Jamie Glover reprise his role as Andrew Treneman alongside our fantastic returning and new cast members is a real treat and we can’t wait to share more stories from the school.”

Fans of the show will be able to get all the behind the scenes information from Waterloo Road – The Official Podcast which will also be returning with hosts Adam Thomas and Priyasasha Kumari. Coming soon to BBC Sounds, the podcast will feature celebrity guests and the Waterloo Road cast as they look back at the show’s legacy and take audiences on a nostalgic journey through the years. The show will countdown to the return of the new series and is the perfect listen for fans who have been with the show since it started.

Waterloo Road is a Rope Ladder Fiction and Wall to Wall North co-production for BBC One and iPlayer. The executive producers are Cameron Roach for Rope Ladder Fiction, Leanne Klein for Wall to Wall and Gaynor Holmes and Jo McClellan for the BBC.

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Seems like they realized that as well, as their idents looked more like BBC \ Nordic rather than the partial N:

All of them looked really nice though - BBC had been working magic on their channel pres since the Chameleon launch (well, except BBC Select and BBC News…)

[Update] The identity was done by London-based Weareseventeen, the same minds behind BBC Two’s Thought-provoking 2.

BBC Nordic launches with a total of five CG idents. In each, the light symbol is shown with a unique motion behaviour to represent a different side of the channel. For example, one ident set in a forest shows the prism moving at speed, constructed of fireflies, while the next shows a more abstract iteration.

“We started by exploring the brand’s pillars and distilled those down into unique motion behaviours,” explains Weareseventeen’s creative director Gary Roberts. “These were then taken forward and inhabited by the prism edge, whether that’s through the speed or the way the edge presents itself to us, its movement or choreography (or lack of) in the space, or the more natural or man-made quality of the light.”

The result is a largely meditative brand, which aligns with the channel’s positioning as an “appointment to unwind”, a release states. Though Weareseventeen also explains how the overarching theme of light allows BBC Nordic to bounce between more upbeat and subdued tones. The prism symbol nods to the concept of “enlightening programming”, while the contrast between light and dark suggests the range of programmes available and the “seasonal extremes of the region”. The colour palette similarly flexes between warmer and cooler tones.

(It’s Nice That)

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Return of a favourite (for some) format and on BBC this time with new hosts.

Father and son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh will bring their charm, wit and on-screen chemistry to the Gladiators arena as they host the much anticipated, iconic sports entertainment show when it returns to TV, on its new home on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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The Sun on Saturday

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A top BBC star has reportedly been taken off air pending an investigation after claims emerged that he paid a vulnerable teenager more than £35,000 for sexual images.

The well-known presenter allegedly began paying the teenager when they were 17, and sent them the money which they used to fund a crack cocaine addiction.

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Is anyone updating this thread?

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“The presenter, who has not been named by the BBC or the newspaper, was suspended on Sunday following the claims”

they need to bit the bullet and name them, if only to stop the naming of people i’m seeing on social media. lots of good people are being named and dragged though the mud (and knowing the beeb’s history probally a few wrong 'uns too)

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It involves a child so I don’t think they legally can.

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Won’t happen - Britains libel laws are strong and it could end up being subject to a super-injunction

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