| The partnership will be co-owned by Pearson
Education and BBC Worldwide, with BBC Worldwide holding a minority
stake, and will sit alongside Pearson's existing educational publishing
businesses. BBC Worldwide will transfer its academic, consumer and
English Language Teaching learning businesses to the new partnership,
which will provide learning resources for both children and adults
at school, college, university and at home in the UK under the BBC
Active imprint.
Key existing products and services include:
- Foreign language publishing, including Talk, French Experience
and Quickstart.
- Revision guide and study aid publishing, including Bitesize,
ReviseWise, and Ten Minute Top Ups.
- Adult personal development, parenting and business books, including
Little Angels.
- Educational publishing resources to support BBC television and
radio programming for schools and Higher and Further Education.
Major brands include Barnaby Bear and Magic Grandad (for the primary
school market).
The partnership will be granted a first option to license relevant
learning market rights in all new BBC properties to which BBC Worldwide
has the relevant rights. The new partnership will work within BBC
editorial and commercial policy guidelines to ensure that appropriate
controls are maintained over BBC intellectual property.
The partnership combines BBC Worldwide's strengths in intellectual
property management and media-based publishing with Pearson Education's
heritage and publishing expertise, global sales and distribution
capability, enabling the strategic expansion of BBC brands across
the international learning market.
Pearson Education's president of higher education, schools and
professional Rod Bristow said, "Pearson Education and BBC Worldwide
are natural partners in educational publishing. The BBC's intellectual
property, expertise with the moving image and its future programming
output present us with a wonderful opportunity in a world where
teachers are looking for innovative and interactive ways of delivering
education. With our publishing expertise and scale, this is a powerful
combination. We are looking forward to growing this business together."
BBC Worldwide's MD for home entertainment and learning Chris Weller
said, "We are excited about this new partnership. The combination
of our skills and intellectual property with Pearson Education's
publishing strengths and distribution scale will enable the business
to develop and grow in the UK as well as internationally."
This is the second business venture between a Pearson company and
BBC Worldwide. On 30 April 2004, the Penguin Group and BBC Worldwide
formed a new venture into which BBC Worldwide transferred its Children's
Books business, BBC Children's Books, which comprises some of the
world's leading character properties, including Teletubbies,
Tweenies, Fimbles and Bob the Builder. The
venture allows them to be brought alongside Penguin's existing children's
publishing portfolio, which includes Spot, Peter Rabbit, Ladybird
books and Puffin.
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