BBC World News looking for U.S. carriage

from broadcasting and cable

Discovery To Distribute BBC World
By Anne Becker

Discovery Communications will distribute international news network
BBC World News in the U.S. Discovery will now seek cable and satellite
carriage for the 24-hour international news channel, which already
reaches 128 million homes in 200 countries but has not been available
as a stand-alone network in the U.S.

patty1...

Messages sent to DirecTV and Comcast...

If Comcast does pick it up, it will almost certainly be on Comcast
Digital, which I don't have. So I'm really crossing my fingers for
DirecTV.

The pairing brings the first international news network to Discovery’s
portfolio, which includes 27 entertainment networks, and builds upon
Discovery’s current partnership with the BBC to distribute BBC
America.

American viewers have had access to daily half-hour BBC World News
programming on 229 PBS stations under a 1998 deal with Public
Television station WLIW New York. As of now, the programming will
still air on PBS.

BBC World programming has also run on BBC America, which reaches some
43 million homes through digital cable and satellite distribution.
Discovery has distributed BBC America since its launch in 1998 and
runs a BBC World News block weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and a
half-hour program at 6 p.m. BBC World News, owned by BBC subsidiary
BBC World Ltd., launched in 1995.

Discovery will try to gain carriage for the international news network
at a time when cable and satellite companies are already strapped for
bandwidth and skeptical about viewers’ appetite for international
news.

Upstart 24-hour global news network Al Jazeera International has had a
difficult time eking out U.S. distribution for its upcoming spring
launch. The network has inked carriage deals in several other
countries, including an 8-million-home deal with BSkyB in the U.K.,
but after months of talks has not yet announced one carriage agreement
in America. Plus, global news network CNN International is fully
distributed by U.S. cable and satellite providers.

Discovery has no carriage deals to announce as of yet for the network,
but a company representative said distributing BBC World News is “a
high priority” for its affiliate sales group, which is in talks with
cable and satellite providers.