BBC rejigs Worldwide division as part of multimedia merger

BBC Magazines managing director Peter Phippen has been put in charge of BBC Worldwide’s television and publishing activities in the UK.

Phippen will join the board of BBC Worldwide, with Jeff Taylor, Jeremy Mayhew and Carolyn Fairbairn, as part of the division’s full integration into a multimedia outfit.

Taylor, director of consumer publishing, becomes director of global brand development. Mayhew joins the board in his current position of director of new media and Fairbairn as director of strategy.

BBC Worldwide first decided to merge its media operations in December 1996. These include BBC Magazines (the video and book publishing arm), a partnership with Flextech TV, and an association with ICL, branded “Beeb”, which has already developed Internet operations for Radio Times and Top Gear.

The restructure is intended to exploit Worldwide’s cross-media brands in the UK and globally, and treble its contribution to the BBC to 200m in the next few years.