Series Six for Latin America

Sunday, 18 November 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

BBC Worldwide Sales and Distribution Latin America have announced that the sixth series of Doctor Who will be broadcast in the region via the exclusive DIRECTV Latin America channel OnDIRECTV.

Willard Tressel, OnDIRECTV's General Manager, said:

We value our ongoing partnership with BBC Worldwide, which allows us to offer a variety of high quality content on OnDIRECTV and OnDIRECTV HD to our subscribers in Latin America. Plus, after airing the recent series re-boot of Doctor Who, our subscribers have been urgently asking for more!

Helen Jurado, VP, Sales & Distribution, BBC Worldwide Latin America, said:

Doctor Who boasts a massive audience and fan following around the world and OnDIRECTV is the perfect home for this incredibly successful show. As one of the longest-running sci-fi programs in history, we are confident it will gain further traction with viewers and attract new legions of fans throughout Latin America as it approaches its 50th anniversary.

FILTER: - Series 6/32 - BBC Worldwide - Press - Latin America

Doctor Who goes UltraViolet

Friday, 12 October 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

BBC Worldwide have announced that they are to utilise the new UltraViolet technology for future DVD and Blu-ray releases, with the Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 1 boxed set forming one of the initial releases to benefit.

UltraViolet is a new approach to help combat video piracy by enabling purchasers to "buy one, play anywhere" - a digital version of the item they have bought is also made available, which can then be played on up to twelve different devices, such as computers, mobiles and tablets, as well as streaming and download for online/offline viewing.

As well as Doctor Who, the initial range includes Top Gear Special Commission, Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild, Rollercoaster (John Bishop). To enable UltraViolet, BBC Worldwide have teamed up with content delivery provider Flixster to provide the digital copies.

Claude London, Digital Director for BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, said:

We're thrilled to be announcing our first UV-enabled DVDs and embrace this new era for home video - the UltraViolet era. We hope UV will empower consumers to build digital entertainment libraries and continue to enjoy BBC Worldwide releases either at home or on the move. We will continue to work as part of the UV consortium and with our supporting partner Flixster on further releases for early 2013.

Doctor Who: Series 7 Part 1 is available to pre-order in the UK on both DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

FILTER: - Merchandise - BBC Worldwide - Blu-ray/DVD

Doctor Who Homeware Range Launched

Wednesday, 3 October 2012 - Reported by John Bowman

A range of Doctor Who homeware products has been launched by BBC Worldwide.

Called Doctor Who Home and created by design partner Skew & Rude, it has Daleks, Cybermen, and the TARDIS emblazoned on a total of 14 products, including jugs, mugs, cups, teapots, cards, notepads, and gift wrap, as well as textiles and kitchen accessories. They will be available in shops from the end of next month.

David Wilson-Nunn, the creative director of BBC Worldwide, led the appointment to exploit a perceived gap in the market for 16-to-60-year-old fans, having previously worked with Skew & Rude on strategic work for the programme. He said the TARDIS graphic, which is featured on boxed card packaging, was "like a secondary brand logo for us – the one thing that never changes and something we can use across everything".

Abi Williams, the founder and director of Skew & Rude, said the designs had been created by "vectorising images and then developing block colour work and playing with shapes across product ranges". She added: "We're working on the next season to follow this collection. We want to push the design as far as possible and have two fantastic concepts for a product brand."