Yousef Al Obaidly (left), Deputy Chief Executive Officer of beIN Media Group, and Paul Dempsey, President for Global Markets at BBC Studios, during the signing of the agreement.
DOHA: BBC Studios, a global content company and commercial subsidiary of the BBC Group, yesterday signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with beIN Media Group, one of the world’s leading entertainment and sports groups and owner of Miramax studios. The MOU establishes a strategic partnership between the two companies to explore opportunities for the co-development, co-production and distribution of content in Qatar, the Middle East and Turkey
Paul Dempsey, President for Global Markets at BBC Studios, and Yousef Al Obaidly, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of beIN Media Group, placed pen to paper to sign the agreement – which is set to run for an initial three year term from August 1, 2018 – at BBC Studios’ London headquarters in Television Centre.
In a symbolic deal for both companies, the partnership continues to extend their creative ties and has been a strategic priority for each organisation. As part of the agreement, BBC Studios and beIN intend to seek opportunities for the development and/or production of content, while exploring the acquisition of additional BBC Studios’ digital content by beIN to complement the current BBC programming on beIN’s platforms.
Included in the MoU is the agreement by BBC Studios and beIN to explore investment in content production and for the two companies to collaborate on knowledge exchange and media business development opportunities in the State of Qatar.
Paul Dempsey, said, “This MoU builds on BBC Studios’ successful existing partnership with beIN Media Group and stands to bring our expertise in development and production to an even wider international audience. It further demonstrates our commitment to working with partners globally to create world-class programmes”.
Yousef Al Obaidly, added, “We are incredibly excited about furthering our trusted partnership with BBC Studios. This memorandum of understanding establishes a new milestone of cultural collaboration between our organisations, bringing together two of the strongest global entertainment brands to deliver stand-out original content, cutting-edge innovation and – ultimately – more value to our customers. We are also delighted to support BBC Studios’ intention to explore broader business opportunities together with beIN Media Group in Qatar.”
Earlier this year, beIN launched BBC Earth, BBC Studios’ global factual brand, as a linear channel across the Middle East and North Africa via its direct-to-home service. BBC Earth joined BBC Studios’ pre-school brand, CBeebies, which has been on the beIN platform since 2016.
BBC Earth and CBeebies are also available as bespoke channels in Turkey via pay-tv operator Digiturk, which – along with Miramax studios – is also part of beIN Media Group’s rapidly-growing and market-leading global and entertainment and sports business.
beIN Media Group is one of the world’s foremost media groups, bringing an unrivalled array of entertainment, live sport action, and major international events to millions of viewers in MENA, Turkey, France, Spain, the USA, Canada, and the APAC region. beIN Media Group’s sports network, beIN Sports, covers the best and most exciting sports in the world including football, basketball, American football , cricket, rugby, tennis, cycling, volleyball, motor sports, college sports and more. In addition to its global sports network, the Group is a major player in entertainment through production and distribution as well as in the digital space.
In November 2015, a new platform was launched in MENA, beIN MENA, which offers a complete spectrum of entertainment including blockbuster movies, series kids programs, and factual entertainment — all delivered through state of art technology.
