Boost For Digital Media At BBC Worldwide

Development opportunities for BBC programming online and on mobile phones have received a boost with the appointment of Simon Danker as director of digital media at BBC Worldwide.

Danker, who is currently director of the UK and Ireland global television sales division, will be involved in the development of the BBC Worldwide iPlayer, a commercial version of a similar BBC product that allows people to download television and radio programmes via the internet.

The iPlayer will let people pay to download television and radio programmes for an initial period of seven days, allowing viewers to catch up with programmes online they have missed on TV, challenging DVR players such as Sky+.

Danker will report to managing director of digital media and director of strategy David Moody and be responsible for making BBC programming more widely available through partnerships with mobile and internet providers. The new role will also include forging partnerships with recording artists and their record companies.

“New distribution platforms will give audiences what they really want – access on-demand to an unprecedented choice of programming,” said Danker.

“The quality and breadth of BBC Worldwide’s catalogue and our global reputation as a distributor means we are in a great position to work with platform owners and producers to generate new income streams in this space.”

BBC Worldwide has a number of content deals for mobiles including one with phone content provider Rok Player to put full-length episodes of Little Britain and The League of Gentleman on the medium.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk