TED to launch conferences to int’l broadcasters

Some 20 international broadcasters are set to acquire the rights to air a series of talks and conferences from the TED conference, the US technology and design conference.

TED, which offers lectures from the likes of Bill Clinton, Bono, JJ Abrams and Richard Branson, is offering broadcasters videos from its conference for free.

Delia Cohen, special projects exec, was at MIP TV talking to international networks about packaging TED’s 700 talks into suitable programming.

“TED started as a conference, like the dinner party you wanted to hold in your home. Three years ago we started putting talks online and translated into 80 languages. We want everybody to be able to access them, that’s why we want to put them on television. We’re giving licenses to broadcasters, public or commercial. It’s not profit driven, it’s about accessibility,” said Cohen, who previously ran communications for the Clinton Global Initiative.

“We’re in the process of signing around 20 license deals from cable channels in the Philippines to broadcasters in Portugal and Africa,” said added.

The conference, which is hosted by Chris Anderson and run by The Sapling Foundation, is also set to strike a deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to allow its member broadcasters to air the content.