BBCW plans to launch US iPlayer within six months

BBC Worldwide America president Garth Ancier, who was previously head of AOL's In 2 TV broadband TV network, said the US launch was likely to take place within the next six months and that the site will most likely use the BBC America brand. However, he said the service will offer a far wider range of content than is available on the cable channel.

“It will have a much wider group of products than you could ever put on a linear channel. You can go deeper into your library,” Ancier said.

As with the recently unveiled Kangaroo joint-venture, BBCW is talking to a number of other channel partners, as well as ISPs, and is exploring various different distribution plans for the service.

Speaking to Broadcast at last week's Natpe programme market in Las Vegas, the former NBC and Fox exec also outlined his plans to strengthen the BBC's news offering in the US.

News channel BBC World currently reaches around 3 million homes in the States and its bulletins are carried on PBS. However, Ancier is keen to see the channel competing with established networks like Fox News and CNN.

“If we launched BBC World in a big way as an adjunct channel to BBC America, which I think is the most likely route, we could be quite successful with it,” he said.

BBC World is currently mulling a rebrand, although no timeframe has been set down.

“To be a real news channel in this marketplace you really have to be live throughout the hour. What we're trying to do is figure out the economics of that. There's a cost to it but I think we have to do it,” Ancier said.

BBC America, meanwhile, reaches 60 million homes in the US and has almost doubled its ratings in the past year. Key to that success has been a focus on promotion and scheduling, as well as a shift in programming strategy.

“We said, let's reflect contemporary drama and comedy, and reality,” said Ancier. “And let's focus the news brand, reflecting the BBC's heritage in news but with a product that is US-facing.”

Top-rating shows include Torchwood, which last year averaged 500,000 to 600,000 viewers per show, and Kitchen Nightmares. The channel has also invested heavily in nightly hour-long newscast BBC World News America, which launched last October.
US launches for other BBCW channel brands are unlikely, Ancier said, and the focus will be on new distribution platforms.

“Linear channels are almost impossible to launch today,” he said. “We're talking about maybe taking some of our kids assets and putting them on our VoD channel, such as a CBeebies VoD channel, for example.”

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