The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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BBC's digital push at Lonely Planet

01.10.07 Katherine Rushton

Lonely Planet is planning to massively bolster its digital presence following BBC Worldwide's acquisition of a 75% stake in the travel publisher. After the deal was announced this morning, Lonely Planet EMEA c.e.o. Stephen Palmer told The Bookseller: "We have the best guidebook series in the world and clearly we want to be in the same position online. Our plans will evolve over the coming months but initially we will focus on the fundamentals-search functions and that sort of thing-and then on the whole range of products that LP has to offer."

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, publishes magazines, makes TV series and documentaries, and has "the capacity to sell rights around the world," Palmer said. "We will not necessarily use all of those [platforms], but they are the sort of ways we could extend the LP offering.”

Lonely Planet initially entered into discussions with BBC Worldwide as one of a number of potential "ambassadors" to partner with and develop its digital programme, Palmer said. "Tony and Maureen [Wheeler, founders of LP] realised that to get the level of commitment and engagement that they
wanted, [a third party] wanted to have a sense of control and not just a relatively small minority stake."

Palmer added that there would be "no change" to the staff at LP, but that the LP board would be adjusted to reflect its new ownership structure.

Katherine Rushton BBC Lonely Planet