First, Torchwood became available from Netflix today, but as you might guess “very long wait” is the message in my queue. And the Doctor, we get him like Torchwood a year after airing. This is what caused the American Revolution. Last time the Brits sold us stale, year old, overpriced, overtaxed tea. My ancestors in Edenton were the first to protest followed by a less gentile response up in Boston.

But there is hope even if that hope comes in snips (at the moment I’m promised).

From a friend:

Tomorrow morning we are officially announcing that MySpace has inked its first global network deal-a worldwide content partnership with the BBC.

Under the partnership, the best BBC video content will be made available online globally via MySpaceTV. MySpace users will be able to visit and subscribe to the BBC Worldwide’s MySpaceTV video channel in order to view, embed and virally share BBC content across the MySpace community.

Now the press release:

BBC WORLDWIDE SIGNS WORLD’S FIRST GLOBAL NETWORK DEAL WITH MYSPACETV

The Mighty Boosh, Robin Hood, Top Gear Comes to the Global Social Networking Platform

LONDON and LOS ANGELES—January 24, 2008—BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC and MySpace, the world’s largest social networking platform, today announced the launch of a ground-breaking partnership to bring new and archived short form BBC content to MySpaceTV. The announcement marks the first global agreement of this type between MySpaceTV and a major broadcaster.

Under the partnership, the best BBC video content will be made available online globally via MySpaceTV, the social networking site’s popular new video platform. MySpace users will be able to visit and subscribe to the BBC Worldwide’s MySpaceTV video channel in order to view, embed and virally share BBC content across the MySpace community.

Under the deal, current and archived video content from BBC Worldwide programmes will be available on MySpaceTV including some classic moments in TV: Robbie Williams and Russell Crowe being interviewed by Parkinson, Jeremy Clarkson and his team on Top Gear and some breathtaking clips from David Attenborough’s natural history series. Also available will be some gripping moments from classic series such as Doctor Who, Robin Hood and Torchwood in addition to some hilarious sketches from The Catherine Tate show, Red Dwarf and The Mighty Boosh.

Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide, said: “MySpace is recognised as the largest social networking site and this partnership continues our strategy of putting BBC content right at the heart of where audiences spend their time and watch video online. The breadth of content we bring to this deal means that MySpace users will easily be able to find a favourite clip to put on their profiles and share with their friends, whether that is a Top Gear stunt or something a bit different from The Mighty Boosh. With the global nature of the deal, this is a great opportunity to put the best shows from the BBC in front of new audiences.”

BBC Worldwide content will be immediately available across MySpaceTV’s 27 international territories and nearly 110 million global active users. Localized versions of MySpaceTV are available in seven different languages across the UK, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Latin America, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Austria.

The deal represents a further move by BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm, to broaden the reach of its content to new channels and outlets, to engage with audiences around the world and to promote content which will be available on Kangaroo[1] in the UK and BBC Worldwide’s commercial media player internationally.

“Shows like Top Gear and Doctor Who are enormous hits whether you live near the white cliffs of Dover or in Dover, Delaware,” said Jeff Berman, EVP of Marketing and Content for MySpace. “This is MySpace TV’s first global network deal and it reflects a fast-approaching Internet future defined by co-operation between corporations and the portability of content across new and traditional networks.”

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of explosive video growth driven by dozens of industry content partnerships and user interface changes. MySpaceTV is an integrated component of the company’s worldwide community and content platform, continuing the evolution of the company’s video offering by aggregating the best elements of video and empowering MySpace users to view, create, and share videos in new ways throughout the community.

BBC content will be available to view from 24th January 2008. [actually you can see it now– pj]

Doctor Who: A Wound in Time

Add to My Profile | More Videos