MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Productions will produce an American version of ?Hairy Bikers? for the History Channel in the US.

The commission comes after BBC Worldwide struck a partnership with ?Hairy Bikers?, managed by James Grant Group, to license their brand and format around the world.

US cable channel History has commissioned Los Angeles- based BBC Worldwide Productions to produce 12x30? episodes to be broadcast later this year.

The US Hairy Bikers are former personal chef for President George W Bush, Paul Patranella and his motorcycle mechanic and foodie friend of 20 years, Bill Allen. Paul, a classically trained chef, will travel with Bill across the country sampling unique delicacies, as well as uncovering America?s traditional dishes and putting their own twist on them.

This is BBC Worldwide?s first deal for the Hairy Bikers brand after recently striking this innovative partnership. The structure also includes DVD, merchandise and live events rights globally.

BBC Worldwide executive VP International Production Matt Paice said, "The Hairy Bikers have really captured viewers? attention in the UK and the introduction of their stateside doppelgangers is a really exciting development. We look forward to striking innovative new deals for Dave and Si and we will be looking for talent to replicate this success for broadcasters around the world."

James Grant Group head of television Holly Pye said, "The History deal represents the first of its kind for the Bikers. We look forward to working in partnership (for our clients) with BBC Worldwide in the coming months and years. History has the ideal platform and audience from which to showcase the Bikers unique concept."

The original Hairy Bikers, Dave Myers and Si King, first appeared on BBC Two in 2005 in The Hairy Bikers? Cookbook: Si and Dave do Portugal. Their friendship, charm and passion for cooking appealed to viewers and the duo then went on to make a series of many other culinary programmes.

The Hairy Bikers programmes have been sold by BBC Worldwide to more than 160 territories around the world; titles include Mums Know Best, The Hairy Bakers and The Hairy Bikers? Cook Off.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide is to play host to Death in Paradise stars, Ben Miller and Sara Martins, when they arrive at the television trade event Mipcom to launch the ambitious new eight-part detective series.

BBC Worldwide will introduce the title to international buyers at a special event in Cannes on 4 October.

Also premiering at Mipcom will be a raft of new dramas including the adaptation of Dickens? Great Expectations, crime thriller The Body Farm and supernatural suspense series The Fades.

BBC Worldwide sales and distribution president, MD Steve Macallister said, "BBC Worldwide is having a stellar year with more stand-out drama in our catalogue than ever before. Returning hits including Sherlock (S2) and Misfits (S3) sit alongside some very exciting new titles such as The Body Farm and Great Expectations and, of course, the international thriller Torchwood: Miracle Day.

"We?re continuing to invest in some really high-profile shows and we are particularly proud to be part of the production partnership for Death in Paradise. Red Planet Pictures and Atlantique Productions have produced a superb detective series, the first ever drama collaboration between BBC and France T?l?visions."

Death in Paradise sees quintessential British cop Richard Poole (Miller) posted to the Caribbean island of Sainte Marie where, unsuited to the Caribbean way of life, he struggles with the sun, sea, sand and the local style of policing.

Great Expectations stars Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth and Ray Winstone.

Already snapped up by broadcasters globally, Torchwood: Miracle Day will be on offer at Mipcom, as will returning series Sherlock (S2), Misfits (S3) and Being Erica (S4).

In children?s drama, Sadie J (S2) is back for the kids with a glossy and fun new series. Joined again by her best friends Kit and DeDe, this series sees 13-year-old Sadie fall in love with hot surfer dude, Taylor Bell, and DeDe questions her good-girl persona.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide is taking nine new formats to the television trade event Mipcom 2011 in Cannes next month.

They include scripted format ?Misfits?, comedy panel game show ?Epic Win?, reality format ?Hot Like Us? and talent contest ?Show Me the Funny: Stand-up Showdown?.

The other formats available to buyers for the first time at this year?s event are Project Parent, Daddy Daycare, Home Is Where The Heart Is, Chick Fix and Young, Bad and Barking.

BBC Worldwide VP format licensing Europe, Middle East and Africa Elin Thomas said, ?We?re incredibly proud of our colourful Mipcom slate, there?s a real sense that we?ve got something for everyone. ?Misfits? which has sold to over 90 territories, will be available for the first time as a scripted format. Featuring five unruly teenagers forced to do community service as payback for their crimes who turn into superheroes with powers they didn?t choose or want, the UK series has already won over international audiences."

?Epic Win?, which made its UK debut this summer, is a format that fuses panel show comedy with talent show entertainment. The show sees handpicked eccentrics with unusual talents taking on bespoke challenges, in front of a panel of comedians and other famous faces.

Also new to the international market is ?Hot Like Us?, a reality format in which a group of model couples live together and compete in modelling assignments and tasks that test their relationships, with the winners receiving a modelling contract at a top agency.

?Show Me The Funny: Stand-up Showdown?, another new format that made its bow in UK primetime this summer, tracks comedians as they perform in a new location each week, completing themed tasks and performing fresh material in front of a panel of judges.

There are two new family-based formats on the BBC Worldwide slate in the form of ?Project Parent? and ?Daddy Daycare?. ? Project Parent?, aimed at children, gives kids control over their single parents, who are put to the test in quirky challenges as they attempt to change their image and find love.

?Daddy Daycare? sends three men on a parenting crash course. The participants ? who have very little experience of caring for children? try to disprove gender stereotypes by looking after dozens of kids in a busy nursery.

Meanwhile ?Home Is Where The Heart Is?, follows a group of celebrities as they mentor homeless people for two weeks, taking them into their homes in an effort to turn their lives around.

Atomized?s Chick Fix is a feel-good spin on the traditional ?makeover show?. Each episode sees four successful women confront different problems with the help of each other and resident experts.

Completing the line-up of new formats is ?Young, Bad and Barking?. In this series, dog owners with attitude problems are sent to live with families who depend on dogs for their livelihood, with the aim of re-evaluating their lives and improving their relationships with their own dogs.

BBC Worldwide titles returning to Cannes include ?Junior Doctors ? Your Life in Their Hands? and the entertainment format ?Tonight?s the Night?, which were both introduced to buyers at MipTV 2011.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide?s future strategy will see it build on its contribution to growth in the UK creative sector. It will continue to focus on BBC intellectual property and increasingly on international growth while, wherever possible, help other high quality UK content reach global markets.

In the UK, BBC Worldwide will play a significant role investing in the best of UK content from the BBC and independent producers, while exiting non core businesses like non-BBC branded magazines. BBC Worldwide will expand its existing international TV channel portfolio and launch the Global iPlayer.

The BBC recently published a report on ?Helping Drive Growth in the UK Creative Economy?. It describes how the pubcaster helps create the right conditions for growth in the creative sector. The BBC?s primary purpose is to inform, educate and entertain but, like other public institutions, it can make a positive contribution to growth. The BBC does this in two ways: by enhancing the productive potential - ?supply-side? - of the creative sector, and by stimulating the demand for services, products and exports.

BBC director of policy and strategy John Tate said that BBC Worldwide continues to grow, doing business in 200 countries and territories. "It works with over 300 indies and turns the best UK content into global brands. Turnover increased 7.8 per cent to ?1,158 million last year; it now accounts for nearly 10 per cent of UK creative industry exports; and helped attract ?59 million of inward investment in 2009/10 from overseas broadcasters."

Consistent with its public purposes, the BBC is committed to thinking harder about how the licence fee can be spent in ways that better support creative businesses, and about new partnerships that can create increased value both for the BBC and for others.

As well as enhancing its positive contribution to creative sector growth, the BBC must also operate in ways that minimise negative effects on the market. It can do this by placing clearer and more predictable limits on its activity particularly in areas of market sensitivity.

BBC must be sensitive to how its actions affect others. In addition to the BBC Trust?s regulatory obligations to consider the BBC?s market impact (for instance, during Public Value Tests), the BBC?s Fair Trading rules are a key feature of this regime and incorporate?amongst other guidelines?an explicit obligation on the BBC to have regard to its competitive impact. This is given effect through the implementation of the Competitive Impact Principle (CIP). The CIP is a critical factor for public service activity and involves consideration of how an activity fulfils the BBC?s public purposes, its impact on competition on the wider market in which it operates and how any negative impacts can be minimised.

The BBC Trust has recently announced that it will improve the transparency of the processes it uses to assess proposals from the BBC for new services or activities. In particular, it will make greater use of Ofcom?s market expertise and understanding in assessing the impact of proposals.

Tate added, "The BBC?s future strategy will focus on core editorial priorities, setting the highest standards and increasing the proportion of its investment on UK content.1 But the BBC must deliver this strategy ? in common with almost every other public institution ? within a new, more constrained funding settlement. The BBC has produced this report to identify those of its activities that have a positive growth impact and to examine how it can help better position the UK creative sector to expand and prosper. Consistent with its public purposes, the BBC is committed to thinking harder about how the licence fee can be spent in ways that better support creative businesses, and about new partnerships that can deliver increased value both for the BBC and for others."

Economic growth in the creative sector, as in others, is driven ultimately by commercial companies who have the capital and incentive to build their businesses and employ more people. However, the right policy framework and interventions ? for example, in education and skills - help create the conditions conducive to growth.

Sustainable growth is most likely to be found in those sectors which are characterised by competitive markets, product innovation, and a skilled talent base. The success of the UK broadcast sector has been based on competition for quality between a range of public and private providers with access to different sources of funding and with different institutional models.

The BBC?s mission is to provide high quality programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain and fulfil its public purposes. It acts as a quality benchmark and ensures an uninterrupted flow of investment into UK content and into the development of the best UK talent. In fulfilling this mission, the BBC also adds significant value to the UK economy overall and the creative sector in particular. Licence fee funding ensures over ?2.5billion is spent on content annually with over ?1.1billion of that invested outside the BBC. Across all its activities, the BBC added over ?8 billion of value to the UK economy in 2009/10 generating over two pounds of economic value for every pound of the licence fee.

As importantly, the BBC?s scale and judicious use of public funding help create the right conditions for the UK creative sector, and for private firms within the sector to grow. First, it enhances the productive potential the supply side of the creative sector by enhancing its key productive inputs, through, for example, investing in skills and technology innovations. Second, it stimulates the demand-side through, for example, the scale and scope of its commissioning of content from the independent production sector and the support it provides for exports of UK content.

The overall effect of the BBC?s activity is to support the rebalancing of the UK economy towards investment in high tech, knowledge based sectors and greater exports. The shift in the physical gravity of the BBC ? with strong production bases in Glasgow, Cardiff and the North of England ? will help to ensure the benefits of growth in the creative sector be shared across the UK, thereby rebalancing the economy geographically.

Tate adds that last year the BBC invested over ?30 million in training the creative sector, and supplied over 3,800 days of training to more than 2,400 non-BBC staff. The talent nurtured benefits the wider industry, with many presenters, writers and performers moving between the BBC and commercial broadcasters and independent producers.

"Investing over ?50m in Research & Development activity: Because the BBC is committed to open platforms and technologies, we enable other companies to create their own value on the back of them. Just think how many set top boxes, flat-screen TVs and digital radios have been sold as a result of the BBC?s work on Freeview, Freeview HD, FreeSat,
NICAM and many other innovations."

In terms of the UK content sector he said that the BBC?s ?1 billion investment, combined with healthy competition for commissions between in-house and independent suppliers, has helped underpin a vibrant commercial UK production sector. Without this role, the sector could lose over a quarter of its income.

"BBC Online - now the fifth-most popular web destination for UK users - gave many people a reason to go online for the first time. Likewise, BBC iPlayer has helped expand the audience for online audiovisual content to the benefit of other providers. Our work to support RadioPlayer has bought around 300 commercial radio stations together in one place."

In the creative cluster section, he said that by focussing our
expertise geographically such as Natural History in Bristol and Drama in Cardiff, the BBC has created sustainable production centres, helping the UK to have a more balanced economy. Many thousands of people will directly benefit from employment, training, business or partnership opportunities from MediaCityUK in Salford.

The BBC can only benefit the creative industries in these ways because of its scale, international reach, stable funding and commitment to the highest levels of quality.

"At a time when more and more public institutions are being challenged to make a contribution to growth as well as to fulfil their public functions, the BBC has hopefully shown a lead," Tate said.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has announced its first 3D music offerings, a chance for audiences to see their favourite artists, up close and personal in a 3D experience.

Bringing the joy of live music to a new level, Britney Spears? Femme Fatale Tour, Alice Cooper?s Halloween Night of Fear and Elbow: Live on Air will be available to broadcasters at Mipcom 2011.

BBC Worldwide VP of music television Salim Mukaddam said, "We?re really pleased that we?ve been able to secure three amazing 3D music performance titles for Mipcom. Capturing music performances in 3D brings a whole new experience to the viewer and arguably benefits from the technology more than any other genre, allowing the viewer to really feel as if they were at the live event. For BBC Worldwide to be able to launch its 3D offering with three titles of this calibre is truly fantastic."

After six million number one albums and over 100 million records sold worldwide, Britney Spears is back in her seventh concert tour, in support of her studio album Femme Fatale. Showcasing her outstanding career, playing loved classics alongside her latest hits, this is guaranteed to be one of Britney?s most entertaining shows to date.

Filmed in August 2011 in stunning 3D at the sold-out Air Canada show in Toronto, BBC Worldwide has attained distribution rights outside the USA. The 2D version will be available for broadcast from Christmas Eve 2011, with the 3D version available in February 2012.

Alice Cooper?s Halloween Night of Fear will see the performer take to the stage at Alexander Palace on 29 October for an evening of thrills, blood spills, guts and gore. The set of over 20 songs will include classics such as School?s Out as well as tracks from his brand new album. The two-hour ?as live?mix will be available on 30 October for Halloween broadcasts. .

From the creative team of ?Live From Abbey Road?, in conjunction with Universal Music Group and Air Studios, Live On Air enables the audience to experience Brit and Mercury music prize winners, Elbow like never before. The programme was shot in 3D over three days in Wakefield as the band prepared for its first headlining arena tour. As well as interviews and backstage footage, it sees them performing
tracks from their latest album ?Build a rocket boys!? as well as Elbow classics.