MUMBAI: Reliance Home Video and Games, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has bagged the exclusive rights to market and distribute BBC Worldwide’s audio-visual library on home video in India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

BBC Worldwide, a wholly owned subsidiary of BBC, has a catalogue of around 50,000 hours of programming across all genres from drama and comedy to factual and formats. Programs like Sherlock (a contemporary adaptation of Sherlock Holmes that attracted 8.7 million viewers at its UK TV premiere and has become BBC One’s top drama of the year) and Frozen Planet (the Natural History program narrated by Sir David Attenborough that is the highest rating documentary in the UK since 2003 and the highest rating Natural History documentary for over 11 years) are some of the recent hit series from BBC.

In addition, BBC’s Catalogue also constitutes a number of classic dramas, thrillers and comedies– from Shakespeare’s dramas to key works of Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Anton Chekov, George Eliot, classic Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple’s mysteries, classic comedies like Yes Minister and Fawlty Towers and also natural history programmes like Planet Earth and Life.

Said Reliance Home Video and Games COO Sweta Agnihotri, “We are delighted with this prestigious alliance. BBC Worldwide’s library has a superlative selection of audio video content across various genres, including a rich treasure of contemporary and classic titles. Reliance Home Video and Games, with its expertise, focus and resources will work toward tapping into the huge potential that BBC Worldwide’s library offers in the Indian sub-continent."

Reliance Home Video and Games has a pan-India distribution network that will allow the BBC titles to reach urban and mass markets alike. With this alliance, BBC fans in and around India would be able to enjoy acclaimed programs also on the Blu-rayTM format, including Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and Planet Dinosaur.