BBC opens news archives to public for first time

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 05-Jan-06

LONDON – BBC News Interactive is opening up its archives for the first time to allow the public to create content from over 80 reports including the fall of the Berlin Wall and England's victory in the 1966 World Cup.

The scheme, still in its pilot stages, is called the Open News Archives and will be made freely available to people in the UK who can then watch, download and edit video clips for non-commercial purposes from reports spanning over 50 years of iconic events.

The scheme is designed to fuel creativity across the UK as people can use the footage for their own artistic creations or school and university projects.

Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, said: "This trial is an important step in allowing us to share with our audiences the extraordinary news archive which the BBC has recorded over the years."

The BBC News footage is available in QuickTime, Windows Media, Mpeg1 and MP3 formats from bbc.co.uk/opennewsarchive.

The trial is part of the recently launched Creative Archive Licence Group supported by the BBC, Channel 4, the British Film Institute and the Open University. The scheme aims to provide the largest film, television and radio archives available to the UK public.

Over the coming months, the BBC will add footage from other areas of its news website and natural history and factual programmes.

Channel 4 will provide content from its broadband documentary channel 4Docs and the BFI will be releasing silent comedy, early literary adaptations and newsreel and archive footage of British cities with all partners committing to expand into other genres in due course.

The Creative Archive was launched following the BBC Building Public Value report in December, which pledged to help establish a common resource to extend the public's access while protecting the commercial rights of intellectual property owners.

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