BBC Studios invests in Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster, has become the latest company to invest in Quibi, the forthcoming short-form service from former Dreamworks exec Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Quibi, which is being designed primarily for mobile users and is headed up by CEO Meg Whitman, ordered factual series Fierce Queens (pictured) from BBCS last week.

The company has been rapidly expanding its commissions over the past six months ahead of a planned launch in April 2020, with other recent additions including a Liam Hemsworth-starring thriller.

BBCS joins existing backers the start-up including Disney, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, Lionsgate, the UK’s ITV, Liberty Global and China’s Alibaba. The service is set to launch on 6 April in North America, ahead of a global roll out, with two tiers of pricing: $4.99 with short ads, and a commercials free offering at $7.99.

It will spend around $1 billion on content in its first year, and another $500 million in marketing and promotion.

A BBC Studios spokesman confirmed the news, broken by UK trade Broadcast, and said it saw “good opportunities to work together on future projects.”