Bristol BBC Anchor Agreement

by Emma_Chappel on 09-Oct-09 10:39

Bristol hit the media headlines yesterday by becoming the first city to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the BBC to promote a closer working relationship on all things digital media related.

Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, was in town to sign the three year agreement along with Caroline Thomsom, the corporation’s COO, and special guest, Sir David Attenborough, who introduced a special preview screening of the first episode of ‘Life’, the latest offering from the world leading BBC Natural History Unit. 

Addressing the assembled heads of tv production, councillors, educators and other players in the media world in Bristol, Mark Thompson praised the contribution Bristol makes to the world of broadcasting and looked forward to collaborating with us on iFeatues, SWS’s microbudget feature film initiative, a programme of training in deprived communities, a “new drive” in local schools and a “school for DJs”, which will see the BBC open up its studios to would-be presenters of producers.

The ‘Anchor Collaboration’ is a welcome shot in the arm for a city still very much smarting from the loss of Casualty to Wales announced earlier this year. It demonstrates the BBC’s commitment to working with the regions, an item high on the agenda as they prepare for large swathes to decamp to Salford Quays. The partners, which include SWS, Bristol City Council, the South West RDA and Bristol’s Creative Media Alliance (which includes the Watershed Media Centre, University of Bristol and Futurelab) are fired up now to see how this new agreement – the first ever city partnership for the BBC  - will work out, and are optimistic that this investment of good faith will lead to future investments of capital into the creative media industries of the region.

Tagged:BBC, Anchor Agreement, MoU, Mark Thompson

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