BBC and BFI Unite On Archives
The BBC and BFI today announced a partnership to work together to develop plans for increasing public access to their respective audio, film and TV archives.
This agreement draws on the opportunities presented by the development of digital technologies, in particular the expansion of the UK‘s broadband infrastructure, which allows both the BBC and the BFI to continue to contribute to the building of Digital Britain.
Roly Keating, BBC Director of Archive Content, said: “The archives of the BBC and the BFI are a great national resource, with huge potential public value. Our two organisations have a shared belief in the value of making the UK‘s audio-visual heritage accessible to the widest possible audience. This agreement to work together more closely is a first and vital step in realising that vision.”
The BBC and BFI’s intention is to explore new ways of making archive content and material available to all UK audiences, across the widest possible range of distribution platforms, while developing an industry standard approach to the management, storage and distribution of archive content and related assets.
The first stage of this partnership has been formalised by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which outlines key areas for joint strategic thinking, including public access, rights management and digitisation.
Amanda Nevill, Director of the BFI, said: “Film and the moving image has never been so important – it permeates everything we do today. Joining forces with the BBC makes perfect sense. We both have a shared ambition that even more people can explore the full breadth of the collections we each hold on behalf of the nation.
“Tantalisingly, Digital Britain has the power to make this happen, something that would have been unimaginable even five years ago. And what’s more, we know there is huge demand. This is very exciting.”
The MOU signed by both parties is non exclusive. Both the BBC and the BFI intend that this agreement will act as a catalyst for making archive content accessible to all UK audiences and in time would seek the opportunity to work with other public archives throughout the UK to further develop the project.
The BFI also holds old footage of many ITV companies including VT and film from ATV, LWT and Yorkshire Television. Those interested in archive BBC programming can explore over 80 years of production in the online version of BBC Archive; bbc.co.uk/archive.