Word: bbc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...want to see the future of the Beeb as media giant, click on BBC America, which runs on digital cable and the satellite service EchoStar. BBCA is now available in 37 million homes, up from 28 million only last year. The channel airs BBC hits from Britain, such as Changing Rooms and The Office; it imports popular programs that other British broadcasters run, like the talk show So Graham Norton; and it's creating American spin-offs. An import called Ground Force, on which professional gardeners fix up a bloke's backyard, also airs as an American version with...
...buzz network," says Lee, 42, a former BBC director and producer. "When we were in under 30 million homes, there weren't a lot of advertisers who noticed. But we're really getting noticed now." Lee says the BBC's prime-time ratings have grown 50% year over year since 2001. "When we launched, only 3 in 10 Americans heard of the BBC. That figure is now 6 in 10." He says BBCA is ahead of its target to turn a profit...
BBCA owes its rapid U.S. expansion in good measure to Discovery Communications, the company, based in Silver Spring, Md., that owns the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel and other cable networks. As a joint-venture partner with the BBC, Discovery provided start-up funds for BBCA, agreed to cross-promote its shows on Discovery channels, sell ads for BBCA and work out distribution deals with cable and satellite providers...
Perhaps the best example of the Beeb's growing influence in the U.S. is NBC's version of the BBC hit Coupling, which premiered this fall. NBC hoped its knock-off would be the next Friends, lavished it with publicity and ran it on a premium Thursday-night time slot. Viewers merely shrugged, while critics savaged it. Comparing it to the British version, which airs on BBCA, the New York Times wrote, "Coupling is the Milli Vanilli of network television: the sitcom equivalent of lip-synching someone else's song." Yet BBC America is capitalizing. Thanks to the notoriety...
...Britain, the success of BBCA and the BBC's other commercial ventures is viewed with a wary eye. As its annual report coyly points out, "The BBC does not have shareholders and does not aim to make a profit." But since 2000, under director general Greg Dyke, another side of the corporation has pursued an aggressive commercial-expansion strategy designed to make it an international media powerhouse. The firm is gaining clout as a global broadcaster, content producer, book and magazine publisher, ad-services vendor and Internet firm. "We're fighting in the big boys' league," says Rupert Gavin, chief...