MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced its first ever global clips deal with the Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV.

The deal brokered by BBC Motion Gallery, the archive clips sales arm of BBC Worldwide, means that BBC Motion Gallery will distribute clip footage globally on behalf of CCTV furthering BBC Worldwide’s connections with the Chinese state broadcaster. Collections of clips from CCTV which are predominately HDTV footage can now be viewed online at BBC Motion Gallery’s online catalogue: www.bbcmotiongallery.com

The new partnership bolsters BBC Motion Gallery’s position as the leading global force in archive content distribution, representing blue chip national broadcasters as well as specialist archives. Already the exclusive global representative for the CBS News archive, NHK in Japan and ABC in Australia, BBC Motion Gallery now offers more than 500,000 hours of film with 60,000 available online. Its archive covers more than 110 years of footage including news, history, music, wildlife and sport.

BBC Motion Gallery’s MD Simon Gibbs said, “We are thrilled to represent this illustrious footage from CCTV. Today’s announcement extends and diversifies our online catalogue and offers our customers access to an unrivalled global library. Adding CCTV footage collection to BBC Motion Gallery is great news for our clients because it means they can now source, from a single online outlet, the best clips in multiple genres.”

CCTV VP Hu En said, “We at CCTV see our high-definition archive as a valuable resource not just for people in China but for the whole international community, so we are delighted that we can expose it to a wider audience through BBC Motion Gallery.”

BBC Worldwide has previously agreed TV sales deals with CCTV for the broadcast of the children’s series Charlie and Lola and Teletubbies. In addition in 2006, BBC Worldwide announced a co-production of the natural history series, Wild China which will be delivered in March 2008 to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.

As well as being available through the online service, www.bbcmotiongallery.com, all the new content will be available via BBC Motion Gallery's UK and international offices.

BBC Motion Gallery offers media professionals access to the world’s most comprehensive collection of high-quality motion imagery for licensing worldwide. With more than 500,000 hours of footage, BBC Motion Gallery encompasses a wealth of content covering natural history, sport, news, locations, art, music, celebrities, historic events and more. BBC Motion Gallery is also the exclusive global representative of the CBS News Archive, and has global distribution deals with NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster and ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Motion Gallery operates from offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Paris, Toronto, Sydney and Tokyo.