TORONTO — BBC Worldwide Canada has sold a raft of BBC series to Knowledge Network to program its newly-acquired BBC Kids channel.
BBC’s commercial arm in Canada sold the Knowledge Network, British Columbia’s public educational broadcaster, around 100 hours of programming, including the BBC series Silk and Monarch of the Glen, and documentary fare.
Earlier this year, BBC Worldwide Canada and Knowledge Network struck a joint venture agreement for BBC Kids and relaunched the cable channel after it was acquired from Shaw Media.
BBC Kids since its launch in 2001 has been aimed at Canadian youth from preschoolers to teens.
Besides the BBC fare, Vancouver-based Knowledge Network is buying and airing domestic and other international programming for the subscriber-driven niche channel.
Shaw Media’s exit from BBC Kids follows the former Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s TV assets being acquired by Calgary-based cable operator Shaw Communications from majority investor Goldman Sachs & Co. and rebranded and re-launched late last year.
Knowledge Network is run by president and CEO Rudy Buttignol, a former programming topper at TVOntario, Ontario’s public educational broadcaster.
