DW And Torchwood Help Boost BBC Profits

Thursday, 28 June 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Overseas sales of Doctor Who and Torchwood have helped give BBC Worldwide record profits.

The corporation said today that its commercial arm enjoyed record pre-tax profits of 111.1m pounds - a rise of 24 per cent on 89.4m pounds.

A report by BBC News says total sales to March 31 rose from 785.1m pounds to 810.4m.

It adds that Doctor Who and Torchwood were among the notable success stories.

The story is illustrated with a still from The Runaway Bride, with the caption saying more than 1.9 million Doctor Who DVDs have been sold across the globe.

However, losses from digital media widened from 1.6m to 3.9m.

Income from the sale of BBC content and its other commercial ventures goes back into programme-making.

Also reported by Media Guardian (free registration may be required) andDigital Spy.

According to reports, Series Two of Doctor Who and the BBC's revival of Robin Hood, which co-stars Sam Troughton, grandson of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, were two of the best-selling programmes.

Meanwhile, the Independent published an article on Sunday which examined the budget issues the BBC is facing after an expected 2bn pound deficit from the licence fee. Entitled "Who will be exterminated as the Beeb slices back?", the item mentions that Director General, Mark Thompson is resisting across-the-board cuts but could be overidden by the BBC Trust.

The trust has been presented with a number of options for the future, which include "cutting entire services, making thousands more staff redundant, slashing expenditure on lowbrow daytime television shows and slicing budgets across the corporation.

"Headline proposals include merging the six and 10 o'clock news on BBC 1 with the rolling news channel BBC News 24, and making fewer hours of original dramas like Dr Who, Torchwood and Hustle."

FOOTNOTE: The chief executive of BBC Worldwide is called John Smith . . .

(Additional reporting by Chuck Foster)





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