BBC Worldwide Press Releases

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has secured a deal with British Airways (BA) to supply fresh new programming titles, presented in branded channel environments reflecting BBC Worldwide's thematic channels: BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies – the first-ever tailored pre-school channel for the airline.

From this December, over one hundred BA aircraft equipped with the airline's in-flight entertainment service will feature the new channels and become home to critically acclaimed series such as Luther (BBC Entertainment), Celebrity MasterChef (BBC Lifestyle) and Top Gear (BBC Knowledge).

CBeebies will appear as a bespoke channel, hosted by well-loved presenters Sid Sloane and Andy Day, and will show universal favourites In the Night Garden, ZingZillas, Charlie and Lola and Penelope K, by the way.

The new brands join BBC World News, which already exists on BA's in-flight entertainment as a daily news service.

Ian McDonough, SVP & GM EMEA, BBC Worldwide Channels said, "As a company, we are committed to serving our international audiences with the best British content across a range of media platforms. This deal enables viewers to access some of their favourite BBC shows on BA aircraft as well as providing us with a valuable opportunity to extend the reach of our channel brands. The deal forms part of our wider channel strategy to provide content wherever, whenever and however they choose – even when they're thousands of feet in the air."

The deal was brokered by Zina Neophytou, Travel Distribution Director, EMEA, BBC Worldwide Channels.

NOTES TO EDITORS
About British Airways
British Airways is the UK's largest international scheduled airline, flying to 148 destinations at convenient times, to the best located airports with premium products. Based primarily at Heathrow and Gatwick airports it operates one of the most extensive international airlines route networks.

Together with our codeshare and franchise partners we fly to more than 300 destinations worldwide and carry more than 33 million customers a year. We also operate a worldwide cargo business to destinations in Europe, the Americas and around with world and have 240 aircraft in service.

Harriet Otoo