MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has secured the rights to provide exclusive live ball-by-ball radio commentary of the 2013/14 Ashes in Australia (21 November 2013 -7 January 2014), providing the final element to a year of cricket coverage on Test Match Special on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app.

There will also be programmes and presenters on Radio 5 live for the summer, including ?Andrew Flintoff?s Ashes Roadshows?.

The BBC?s cricket portfolio also includes live commentary of the New Zealand Test Matches and ODI?s, the ICC Champions Trophy and the pinnacle event of the summer - The Ashes. In addition, there is the recently announced ongoing ball-by-ball commentary of the entire county cricket season via BBC online and BBC Local Radio, plus live coverage of county matches on 5 live sports extra.

BBC Sport director Barbara Slater said, "We?re very pleased to have added the Ashes in Australia to our existing cricket rights portfolio, and there?s no one better to deliver it to audiences than the esteemed Test Match Special team. We?re looking forward to a fantastic summer and winter of cricket which we will be covering through TMS, Radio 5 live and our digital platforms."

MUMBAI: BBC Films is bringing the stars of BBC kids? show ?Horrible Histories? to the big screen in ?Bill?, a new comedy film about Shakespeare - or how Bill became William.

Shooting later this year in the UK, ?Bill? stars the six lead ?Horrible Histories? cast - Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond. All will play multiple roles in BILL, in the style of the Python films.

?Bill? tells the story of how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dream. It?s a tale of murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth. Can one man prove the quill is mightier than the sword?

Rickard and Willbond said, "?Bill? is a comedy adventure for all the family. We?re playing with history, just as Shakespeare did, for the entertainment of the audience. And we like to think he?d be OK with it, apart from the bit where he?s dressed as a tomato."

BBC Films head Christine Langan said, "We?re thrilled that BBC Films is making the first film starring this team of incredibly talented and popular British comedy writers and performers. ?Horrible Histories? has been a terrific success and is hugely popular with both kids and their parents. BILL will be a film for all the family to enjoy with original British talent telling a very funny story about Shakespeare."

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that Roger Mosey has been appointed editorial director. The role, which reports to the BBC DG as editor-in-chief, will oversee the BBC?s editorial standards and the planning of significant pan-BBC events.

In this role, Mosey will also take the lead in handling major editorial issues as they arise, working alongside the divisional Directors in Television, Radio and News.

The new role, created by BBC DG Tony Hall, will sit on the BBC?s management board.

Hall said, "It is crucial that the BBC dedicates the right amount of time, skill and expertise to addressing the myriad of editorial challenges that we face across the BBC?s output. Roger?s experience in news, sport and most recently television make him ideally placed to fulfill such an important role as part of my management team".

Mosey will take up the post with immediate effect.

BBC North director Peter Salmon has also been given additional responsibilities to his current role leading the divisions based at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays.

Salmon will find ways to extend and strengthen the BBC?s relationship with partners and audiences across the English regions. Building on the success already achieved across the North, Salmon and his team based in Salford will work with regional managers to extend this approach in other major cities in the English regions, starting with the existing partnerships in Birmingham and Bristol.

Hall added, "I am delighted that Peter will be taking an extended role in addition to leading BBC North. Creating long-term relationships with local partners and more meaningful relationships with the audience is a vital part of bringing the BBC into both communities and local economy."

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has lined up plans for next year?s Commonwealth Games. BBC audiences throughout Scotland and the UK will be kept in the picture with live streams from the Commonwealth Games venues.

BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie, speaking at an industry event has pledged that programming of, and around, the Games will be second to none.

Delivering the Royal Television Society?s Campbell Swinton Lecture in Glasgow, he said that the broadcaster will be taking up the baton from the coverage of last year?s Olympic Games in London.

"In many ways, the Games came of age in a digital world, defined to large extent by the BBC?s approach to coverage. We will adopt a similar approach to the Commonwealth Games, during which 15 separate streams will be beamed from 17 locations around Scotland.

"In this endeavour, we will work closely with colleagues in Salford and London and with BBC teams and other broadcasters across the Commonwealth to ensure that the programming of, and around, the Games will be second to none."

He added that 2014 is a particularly important year for the broadcaster. "It is the year in which we will commemorate the outbreak of the Great War, we will cover the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and, of course, we will report on every twist and turn of the debate surrounding the Independence referendum."

Turning to the referendum, MacQuarrie reiterated that the BBC will not take any stance on what broadcasting could look like under independence.

He said, "Broadcasting will feature as a topic for debate within the discussions which will take place between now and September 2014: for the BBC to take - or to be seen to take - any kind of stance on a constitutional issue would potentially damage our reputation for impartial and unbiased reporting, particularly given the fact that the referendum and the issues it will involve will be comprehensively covered across out output."

He also highlighted how the BBC can help audiences maximise the benefits of digital access. Recent research by the Carnegie Trust, he said, revealed the existence of a worrying digital divide, particularly in Glasgow, where internet access among skilled manual workers is 47 per cent while the UK average is 72 per cent. Furthermore, 40 per cent of householders interviewed were not online in their homes, and of those nearly half have no wish to be so in future.

"For those of us for whom universality of access is an important principle, who aspire to helping audiences to derive the greatest benefit from engagement with emerging media, these are worrying statistics.

"Connectedness, inevitably, is about people, much more than it is about technology and clearly there is a sizeable minority, and no more so than in this city, who have yet to accept the economic and social benefits that digital interconnectedness can bring.

"I think it is fair to say that open and unfettered access to the digital space can unlock many riches - but only if you know how to navigate that space.

"And that, for me, points to two important roles the BBC must play going forward - that of curator, helping to organise and make available the fantastic content that lies deep within its archive; and that of navigator, helping audiences steer their ways through the terabytes of information to find what they need and what is of particular value to them," he added.