News Broadcasting
BBC launches integrated multimedia broadcast and production group BBC Vision
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that BBC Vision, an integrated multimedia broadcast and production group has launched. The aim is to create high quality programmes for audiences in the rapidly changing digital world.
BBC Vision director Jana Bennett says that in the future, more BBC programmes would need to work on many different platforms such as the web, mobile phones and interactive technologies.”Our creative purpose is to deliver great programmes and great content to all our audiences. The future will still be a place where audiences value great storytelling, elegant structure, high production values – all the traditional strengths of BBC programme makers.
“But at the same time we need to develop fresh ways of thinking and using technology. There are incredible opportunities in this new world if we can only organise ourselves to seize those opportunities and make them work for our audiences.”
BBC Vision – so called because it makes BBC content that people watch – brings together several former BBC divisions: Drama, Entertainment and Children’s (DEC); Factual and Learning; Television; and Network Production in the Nations.
This follows a restructure plan announced by BBC DG Mark Thompson earlier this year. The BBC Groups coming together are Audio and Music, Journalism and Future Media and Technology. Bennett said there were two big ideas behind the creation of Vision:
A “one-stop shop” for multi-platform commissioning where creative ideas – whether in-house or independent – could be looked at in the round and assessed for their full creative potential across all appropriate platforms;
A content powerhouse, Vision Studios, which positions itself as the biggest multi-platform production house of its kind in the world, bringing together about 4,000 programme makers in 17 “studios”. Jana Bennett has appointed Peter Salmon as Chief Creative Officer to run Vision Studios.
£10 million has been set aside for multi-platform landmark projects. There will be opportunities for thousands of programme makers to gain new multi-media skills and experience of different areas of programming. There will also be an in-house guarantee and window of creative competition initiative. Bennett adds, “Vision commissioning would be a meritocracy to make sure that BBC audiences get the best content, wherever the ideas originate – inside or outside the BBC.”
Within BBC Vision, commissioning stays separate from production. The BBC draws at least 25 per cent of its programming from independent production companies by statutory quota, and another 25 per cent makes up the Window of Creative Competition open to competition between independents and in-house producers. The remaining 50 per cent goes to the BBC’s in-house programme makers under the In-House Guarantee.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
