BBC Worldwide Press Releases

24.02.04

BBC Magazines acquires Origin Publishing

BBC Magazines has acquired Origin Publishing – the Bristol-based publisher of 12 quality specialist consumer magazines such as Focus and Living History plus a range of award-winning contract titles including Waterstone’s Books Quarterly and HMV Choice.

The purchase of Origin, which employs around 110 staff, is part of BBC Magazines’ strategy to grow through new launches and acquisitions that saw the company launch five new consumer magazines last autumn and acquire Parentwise magazine which was subsequently relaunched as BBC Parenting Magazine.

Origin will provide BBC Magazines with a specialist publishing arm and provide an opportunity to move the BBC’s existing specialist titles - BBC History Magazine, BBC Wildlife and BBC Music Magazine – to Origin’s headquarters in Bristol where they would benefit from Origin’s long experience in producing such magazines profitably and its knowledge of specialist markets and specialist distribution channels.

Says BBC Magazines Managing Director Peter Phippen: "Origin is a very successful publisher of quality specialist magazines. This is an important and exciting development and gives us a powerful base from which to publish the three titles that we propose to move there, and indeed from which to plan future launches in specialist markets."

Origin will continue to be run by Chief Executive Kevin Cox, who founded the company in 1997, and will be managed as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Says Kevin Cox: "I am thrilled that Origin is to be owned by BBC Magazines and benefit from its position as a high-calibre publisher of some of the UK’s best known and most respected magazines, while continuing to be run at arms-length in a way that will benefit our existing range of titles as well as the BBC’s own specialist portfolio."

Notes to Editors:
BBC Magazines is a division of BBC Worldwide Ltd, the commercial consumer arm of the BBC. Its portfolio of nearly 40 regular titles for adults, teenagers and children includes Radio Times - Britain’s most profitable magazine. BBC Worldwide does not use licence fee income for its activities and re-invests in public service programming. In 2002/2003 BBC Worldwide returned £123 million to the BBC.

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