Ten-year extension for BBC and Discovery

The BBC and Discovery Communications have signed a landmark 10-year extension to their global alliance, extending the production and distribution partnership to at least 2012.

The new deal is twice as long as had been expected, and reflects the success of the pair's jointly-owned channels and coproduced natural history programming.

BBC director general Greg Dyke said the deal aimed to create {the greatest creative force in factual broadcasting globally.{

Global hit series to come out of the venture, first signed in 1997, have included The Blue Planet, The Human Body and the Bafta, Emmy and Peabody Award winning Walking with Dinosaurs.

Jointly-owned networks include People+Arts, which reaches more than 12m homes in Latin America, and Animal Planet in 130m homes in 70 countries worldwide.

The original deal also included the joint development and distribution of BBC America, the BBC's wholly-owned entertainment and news channel, which is now in more than 26m households.

DCI president and coo Judith A McHale said: {Strategic partnerships like the BBC/DCI joint venture are a central element of Discovery's growth strategy.

{The complementary expertise of the two organisations allows for cost sharing, creative balance and increased distribution, which gives Discovery a significant competitive advantage in the domestic and international marketplace.{

The UK corporation described the partnership as the {deal of the decade{ and said it was {almost unique in terms of scale and longevity within world broadcasting.{

BBC Worldwide chief executive Rupert Gavin added: {The partnership has not only seen the creation of landmark programming and TV channels around the world, but is also a clear indication of how a global partnership such as this builds value and allows for significant re-investment in programming to the benefit of the UK licence payer.{