BBCWW sweeps up indie rights to maximise MySpace deal

BBC Worldwide has inked the first global network deal with MySpace.com and is now making sure that it has the new media rights to all of its hit shows to maximise revenues.

The commercial arm of the British public broadcaster BBC is to upload 150 clips from 40 shows to the News Corp.-owned social networking site. It will offer 2-to-5-minute clips of programmes including The Mighty Boosh and Top Gear.

Simon Danker, director of digital media at BBC Worldwide, told TBIvision that it would not offer full episodes of the shows to avoid undermining existing new media agreements – such as those with Australia’s Telstra, Telecom Italia and Amazon in the United States – and broadcast deals.

"The sweet spot is that it is much short content, so it is tapping in to that," he said.

BBC Worldwide already has new media deals with independent producers such as Tiger Aspect, Kudos and Baby Cow. But Danker it will now spend time clearing all of the rights from indie producers that it does not own. "We’ve been sweeping up the rights that we didn’t have. Ongoing, we’re working with indies across all new media opportunities," he added.

BBC Worldwide and Myspace have struck a revenue share agreement for the content, which will be split into seven sub channels. It is currently trialling pre-rolls and overlaying ads and Worldwide is also looking at sponsorship opportunities for the separate channels.