BBC Worldwide moves away from originals strategy

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BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) will move away from commissioning originals for its BBC Earth and BBC Brit channels, leaving two commissioners redundant.

The channels will newly focus on airing BBCWW distributed series and local formats, as first reported by Deadline.

As part of the new strategy, commissioning editors Hannah Demidowicz and Kirsty Hanson will no longer be needed for their roles.

Demidowicz joined BBCWW from National Geographic Channels International in 2014, where she was head of programmes for Europe, and Hanson joined from UK indie Twenty Twenty in 2015.

BBCWW will, however, create an executive/development producer role to support the new strategy and develop a slate of potential titles for the pipeline. The new hire will work with BBC Studios and indie partners to fill slots with partner broadcasters.

“Our global network of branded services has grown and evolved since 2014 – with their commissioning strategies also adapting to best fit their content needs,” BBCWW said in a statement.

“As a result, much of the resource put into delivering global fact ent tape [ready-made programmes] has been redirected towards meeting a growing demand for formats and fact ent that can be localised.”