BBC signs up as UKFood sponsor

UKTV’s UKFood channel has signed up BBC Good Food magazine to sponsor its 90-minute live daily programme when the channel launches in November.

The magazine, published by the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide, has paid a substantial portion of its marketing budget to sponsor the 90-minute daily live programme hosted by Jeni Barnett, which will be called Good Food Live.

It will receive exposure through 18 bumper breaks each day across the show, which goes out live at noon and is repeated the following morning. There will also be a half-hour daily highlights programme.

BBC Worldwide and UKTV (a partnership between the BBC and Telewest’s Flextech arm) are also considering cross-selling advertising space on UKFood and the magazine.

As part of the two-year deal, UK Food will be entitled to advertising within the magazine and exposure at the Good Food show, which is being held later this year at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

UKTV marketing director Julia Weston says: “A lot of the small food advertisers have been forced off TV because of the cost of advertising. Now they have an effective target market that they can reach at a lower cost.”

UKFood, launched on November 5, will be distributed by NTL and Telewest and, unlike rival Carlton Food Network, Sky Digital.

Half of UKFood’s content will be created especially for the channel and the rest will comprise programmes that have appeared on the BBC, or acquisitions such as Channel 4’s Nigella Bites.