Date: 11th December 2000

BBC Plans To Launch Commercial Sports Channel - With Partner


In what is likely to become the BBC's biggest commercial venture to date, the public corporation has announced that it plans to launch a pay-TV sports channel by next fall. BBC Director of Sport Peter Salmon told the London Observer that the BBC planned to partner in the channel with an established commercial broadcasting company, which would finance the enterprise while the BBC would provide sweat equity. "What we'd invest is our talent and our archive and some of our existing rights," Salmon said. He declined to reveal who the company's partner is likely to be, telling the newspaper, "We've narrowed the field and are still in talks with several different broadcasters. There are some really good suitors, but pretty soon we're going to have to make up our mind who we're going to walk up the altar with."

Source: Studio Briefing