BBC America is an American
basic cable network that is jointly owned by
BBC Studios and
AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs
sci-fi
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univ ...
and
action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its
nature documentary series).
Unlike the BBC's domestic channels in the United Kingdom, BBC America does not receive funding from the British
license fee (which is the principal funding for the BBC's channels within the United Kingdom), as the BBC cannot fund any of its channels that are available outside the United Kingdom. Consequently, BBC America operates as a
commercial-supported channel and accepts traditional advertising. It is also funded by television subscription fees.
As of September 2018, BBC America is available to about 80.9 million television households (87.8% of pay television customers) in the United States.
History
BBC America was launched on March 29, 1998,
presenting a mixture of comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced t ...
and other British television broadcasters including
ITV and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
. In the channel's early days, it focused on repeats of popular lifestyle shows such as ''
Changing Rooms'' and ''
Ground Force
''Ground Force'' was a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh.
Production
The series was created by ...
''. BBC America's head of
television programming later stated that the channel needed to establish a niche, since non-British viewers found the lifestyle shows appealing. Most of the newer programs appeared as part of BBC America's evening schedule.
The network removed the British
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
EastEnders'' from its schedule in 2003 due to low ratings; however, the program's removal from BBC America provoked complaints from viewers, which caught media attention.
After CEO
Paul Lee was appointed president of
ABC Family in 2009, the network appointed Bill Hilary from
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...
to serve as its chief executive officer. Hilary appointed Kathryn Mitchell to the new position of general manager. Under Hilary's tenure, BBC America was restructured; it moved its main offices to New York City and had its programming budget increase substantially. The channel was led by
Garth Ancier, who served as the president of BBC Worldwide Americas from February 2007 until 2010, when he was succeeded by former
MTV Networks executive
Herb Scannell. Meanwhile, Perry Simon serves as general manager.
In 2014,
AMC Networks acquired a 49.9% equity stake in BBC America for $200 million, and replaced
Discovery Communications as its managing partner. As part of the deal, AMC Networks also took on the responsibility of negotiating U.S. broadcast and advertising sales for the
BBC World News channel. AMC Networks CEO
Josh Sapan stated that the deal gave his company "a powerful collection of networks that are among the most critically acclaimed, with distinct dramas and other potent content that creates a deep connection with viewers", while BBC Worldwide CEO
Tim Davie considered it "an opportunity to grow the creative quality and ambition from an already high base."
On Sunday, April 25, 2021, BBC America unveiled a redesigned logo and tagline - “Brit-ish”.
AMC Networks is also a partner in the
US operations of
BritBox, an over-the-top subscription service focused on British television operated by
BBC Studios and
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on th ...
.
Programming
Current
* ''
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency''
* ''
The Graham Norton Show''
* ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus''
* ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation''
* ''
Law and Order''
*
''Bones''
*Saturday daytime ''Wonderstruck'' nature block
Some of the programs on the channel are edited either for adult content or to allow for commercials. Occasionally, comedy shows are run in specially formatted 40-minute blocks and a few first-run drama programs are broadcast in a longer block that allows them to run to their original broadcast length. Additional series that has been previously broadcast may periodically return to the schedule as part of the network's rotation of daytime programming.
Original programming and co-productions
In the mid-2000s, BBC America produced a few of its own shows along with some joint productions, including ''Sharpe's Challenge'', part of the ''
Sharpe'' series of
made-for-television movies and co-produced with ITV; and ''
The State Within'' and ''
Jekyll Jekyll may refer to:
Entertainment Film
* ''The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll'', a 1960 horror film
* ''Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo'', a 1972 Spanish horror film
* ''Jekyll'', a 2007 horror film
Television
* ''Jekyll'' (TV series), a 2007 BBC televisi ...
'', which were co-productions with the BBC. The first original series produced solely by the channel was ''
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...
'', which premiered in the summer of 2012.
BBC America has also branched into co-producing British series, including ''
Robin Hood'', ''
The Musketeers,
Killing Eve'',
Mood
Mood may refer to:
*Mood (psychology), a relatively long lasting emotional state
Music
*The Mood, a British pop band from 1981 to 1984
* Mood (band), hip hop artists
* ''Mood'' (Jacquees album), 2016
* ''Moods'' (Barbara Mandrell album), 1978
...
and from its fourth series, the revival of ''
Doctor Who'' (until 2022). They also co-produced the Canadian series ''
Orphan Black''.
Newscasts
BBC America used to broadcast ''
BBC World News'' each Monday through Friday morning from 6:00 to 8:00 am
Eastern and
Pacific Time. All news programs now air exclusively on the BBC World News channel, also distributed by AMC Networks in the United States.
The weekday morning (6:00–9:00 am Eastern) simulcast used to include ''BBC World News'' bulletins, ''
World Business Report'', ''Sport Today'', ''
Asia Today
''Asia Today'' is an Asian news programme produced by the BBC and was shown on BBC World News during the Asian morning hours, between 2003 and 2011. This programme used to be available exclusively in Asia Pacific, South Asia and Middle East but ...
'', and a one-hour bulletin called ''
World News Today''. Most of these were removed from the schedule without any announcement on April 6, 2009. The weekend morning (6:00–6:30 am ET) simulcast was also abruptly dropped on April 4, 2009. According to BBC America, the simulcast was dropped because of disappointing ratings.
From 2007 to 2011, BBC America broadcast ''
BBC World News America'', a live
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
–based program anchored by
Matt Frei.
Katty Kay served as a Washington-based correspondent. On February 18, 2011, network management announced that ''BBC World News America'' would be dropped from BBC America and would instead be broadcasting only on the BBC World News channel and
PBS member stations in the United States.
The network was in discussions to unveil a weekly news program fronted by ''
Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also avail ...
'' host
Jeremy Paxman, who was to introduce a synopsis of ''Newsnight'' items with an international aspect and was expected to bring his brash interviewing style to bear on American politicians. An international edition of ''Newsnight'' debuted on February 29, 2008, in the 10-pm time slot. This program was cancelled in November 2008, but the announcement of the program's cancellation was not made until April 2009.
[
During major breaking news events, the network sometimes replaces scheduled programs with coverage from BBC World News; the London bombings in July 2005 was one example. BBC World News's American coverage started out sparse, but has expanded within the last decade on several providers throughout the United States, generally alongside BBC America as part of AMC Networks' retransmission consent negotiations (one previous example is New York City-based Cablevision, which did not carry BBC America until August 2011) or '' BBC World News America'', an American-focused news program presented by Katty Kay and usually from Washington, DC, mainly carried by American public television stations through a distribution agreement with Washington PBS member station ]WETA-TV
WETA-TV (channel 26) is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Washington, D.C. Owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, it is a sister station to NPR member WETA (FM), WETA ( ...
.
Sports
BBC America has carried coverage of the PDC World Darts Championship in simulcast with Sky Sports, with preliminary rounds streaming, and the finals airing on television.
Outside the U.S.
BBC America is available in Caribbean countries, such as Bermuda
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = "Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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on One Communications
One Communications is a Burlington, Massachusetts-based CLEC providing Telecommunications services to commercial entities. Company was formally established on July 3, 2006 as the result of a merger between CTC Communications and Choice One Com ...
's cable service, and the World on Wireless
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the wor ...
service, as well as the Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...
on REVTV, in Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate ...
on Flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psych ...
, in the Cayman Islands on Logic TV, Grenada on Flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psych ...
, Telbo MiTV in Bonaire
Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC ...
, in Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coas ...
on Flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psych ...
and on SXM Cable & Data in Sint Maarten
Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divid ...
. It is also available in the Pacific in the US territory of Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...
on DoCoMo Pacific and GTA Teleguam's IPTV service, as well as in the Northern Marianas on DoCoMo Pacific.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc America
Television networks in the United States
International BBC television channels
English-language television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1998
1998 establishments in New York (state)
AMC Networks
BBC Worldwide
Joint ventures