April 13, 2015 – BBC Worldwide today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese leading omni-media company, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) – an agreement that will expand their strategic relationship to include programme and format production, programme distribution and co-production opportunities.
The agreement will see BBC Worldwide working with several of SMG’s subsidiaries –Internet TV Service, BesTV; DocuChina, SMG’s documentary channel; Dragon TV, SMG’s satellite broadcaster reaching 1 billion audience members in China and as well as Hong Kong, Macao, the United States; and Canada; Wings Media, the exclusive agent for SMG produced content and Toonmax Media, which focuses on children’s programming and animation.
The MOU was signed in a ceremony that took place during MIPTV in Cannes with Wang Jiajun, Director General President representing SMG and Paul Dempsey, President, Global Markets, for BBC Worldwide.
Key areas of collaboration include:
- Extension of the CBeebies brand in China – exploring opportunities with BesTV, to broaden the CBeebies brand in China to beyond TV to include consumer products, e-commerce and marketing.
- Co-production opportunities – with BesTV, DocuChina and Toonmax Media exploring areas of co-operation in documentaries, factual entertainment and drama spaces including theatrical – for the Chinese and global markets. The first co-production output of a major documentary is expected to be completed within 12 months.
- Format production – with Dragon TV, focusing on the production of BBC formats for the channel, and ultimately co-developing original formats to take to the international market.
“We are delighted to be cementing our relationship with SMG by announcing this exciting new phase of our long term alliance and look forward to working together towards the exchange of expertise and creation of new business models across media spaces in both China and globally,” said Paul Dempsey, President, Global Markets for BBC Worldwide.
“SMG and BBC Worldwide have enjoyed extensive content distribution collaboration over the years. I’m delighted that our collaboration will expand to new territories in the future. We look forward to
deepening our relationship with BBC Worldwide to greatly enhance SMG’s original production capacity.” Said Madam Wang Jiannjun, Director President, Shanghai Media Group.
BBC Worldwide has a long standing relationship with SMG, with BesTV acquiring BBC documentaries and dramas since 2008. Chinese versions of BBC formats, Top Gear and Dancing with the Stars are produced for and shown on Dragon TV, and there is an existing branded block of CBeebies content seen in over 20 million Chinese households on the IPTV platform.
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For more information:
Jeanne Leong
BBC Worldwide Asia
Tel: +65 6849 5292/ +65 8388 1832 (mob)
Email: Jeanne.Leong@bbc.com
About BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its vision is to build the BBC’s brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world. This is achieved through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values. The business also champions British creativity globally.
In 2013/14, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £157.4m and headline sales of £1,042.3m and returned £173.8m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview
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About Shanghai Media Group
Shanghai Media Group or SMG is one of China’s largest media and cultural conglomerates. It boasts the most complete portfolio of media and related businesses in China with the highest market value. Its businesses scope spans operations of traditional radio and TV networks, newspapers and magazines, drama and film production and distribution, OTT and streaming, IPTV, online and console gaming, digital advertising, home shopping and e-commerce, live entertainment and tourism, etc. By the end of 2014, SMG has about RMB 50 bln in assets
SMG possesses 13 radio frequencies, 15 cable and satellite TV networks, 15 subscription-based digital pay TV channels, 8 newspapers and magazines and a number of playing troupes and landmark properties including the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Its home shopping business is also the largest in the country.
Shanghai has two public listed companies: BesTV New Media and Oriental Pearl, ranking No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in terms of scale in China’s cultural and media industry. SMG announced the merger of the two companies in 2014 and their combined market value totals more than 100 billion yuan.
About DocuChina
Founded in 2009, DocuChina is a wholly owned subsidiary of SMG that exclusively operates the content production and integrated marketing of Docu TV under SMG. As the first documentary channel in China, Docu TV was established in 2002 and became a national documentary satellite channel in 2014. In recent years, Docu TV has produced a dozen of documentaries that are highly recognized for their quality, connotation, innovation and influence, such as The Bund, About Old Age, Magnificent Projects, Maritime Silk Road, Wild Kashgar, The Huangpu River, Tibet, When Le Louvre Museum Meets the Forbidden City, Education, Living in the 1980’s, To the Rear, and Shanghai Story. Docu TV has won numerous major awards in China and abroad, including China Radio & Television Award, China TV Golden Award, Asian Television Awards and The George Foster Peabody Awards.
About Toonmax
Toonmax is an affiliated company of SMG and China’s leading company in children’s programming and animation productions. It operates two TV networks including a satellite channel targeted at teenagers and a local cable channel whose core audiences are kids and families. Its businesses also encapsulate animation investment & branded exhibition, children’s arts education, licensing and consumer products.
About Dragon TV
As SMG’s flagship satellite channel, Dragon TV is one of the most influential satellite TV channels in the nation, reaching 1 billion viewers in China and across the world including Hong Kong, Macao, the US and Canada. Dragon TV produced some of the highest rated productions in China over the years, including Chinese Idol, China’s Got Talent, Let’s Shake It , The Cube , Masterchef, etc.