BBC signs deal with YouTube for top shows

This deal will see the creation of branded BBC channels on YouTube operating under separate BBC and BBC Worldwide agreements.

The BBC will use the agreement to help pull in new audiences to the proposed BBC iPlayer service and to boost revenues for BBC Worldwide to supplement the licence fee.

From the BBC, the agreement will see clips of new shows and specially commissioned promotional content linked to popular series such as 'Doctor Who' and 'Life On Mars'. This will include a range of specially-created video diaries including David Tennant who'll take viewers around the set of 'Doctor Who' and John Simm going back in time for 'Life On Mars'.

From BBC Worldwide there will be an entertainment channel showing clips from the likes of 'Top Gear', Spooks', 'The Catherine Tate Show', 'The Mighty Boosh' and a range of factual programmes including those presented by David Attenborough. The channel will include a limited amount of advertising.

From BBC World, the BBC's international commercial television channel, there will be around 30 news clips per day, offered with up-to-the-minute news and analysis from around the world. These advertising-funded clips will be available to users outside the UK only.

As with other YouTube clips, users will be able to comment on clips, rate them, recommend them to friends and post their own video responses to communicate with the BBC and other viewers.

Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said: "This ground-breaking partnership between the BBC and YouTube is fantastic news for our audiences. YouTube is a key gateway through which to engage new audiences in the UK and abroad.

"The partnership provides both a creative outlet for a range of short-form content from BBC programme makers and the opportunity to learn about new forms of audience behaviour."

He added that it was essential that the BBC embraced new ways of reaching wider audiences with non-exclusive partnerships such as the one with YouTube.

Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder of YouTube, said: "The BBC is a premier source for quality programming, and we're excited that they are leading the way in enabling two-way dialogue and real engagement with an entirely new audience. We hope to open up an entirely new audience for their content, while deepening their relationship with their existing viewers."