BBC Worldwide inks content deal with O2

BBC Worldwide announced a content partnership with U.K. operator O2 to deliver video highlights, wallpapers and ringtones from hit series including Doctor Who, Little Britain and I'm Alan Partridge. The deal--the first negotiated by the broadcaster's newly-minted head of mobile Peter Mercier--will result in the addition of some 300 premium content downloads to the O2 Active Portal. According to The Guardian, BBC Worldwide also commissioned I'm Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan's production company Baby Cow to create original content for digital distributions, adding the broadcaster is currently in talks with O2, T-Mobile and other international operators to develop new mobile services including streamed TV channels, games and ad-funded platforms.

"We're in a fortunate position with a large archive of material we can experiment with," Mercier told The Guardian. "We may commission made-for-mobile content in the future, but part of the challenge is to distribute to an audience of sufficient size that we can earn a return."

For more on the BBC/O2 deal:
- read this Guardian article

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