CMS, Proskauer Rose and Shearman & Sterling have picked up lead roles on a new £300 million partnership between the BBC and U.S. media giant Discovery, which will see the creation of a new streaming service, and the separation of UKTV. 

CMS, led by partners Selina Potter and Simon Morgan, advised BBC Studios across all aspects of the partnership agreement, while Discovery turned to a New York-based Proskauer team led by partner and TMT group co-head Rob Freeman and partner Rob Day.

Shearman advised Discovery on the UKTV separation agreement. Partners on the team included London-based Laurence Levy, Richard Porter, Simon Letherman, Matthew Readings, James Webber and Jordan Altman.

The partnership will see Discovery launch its own video-streaming service next year and acquire hundreds of hours of BBC programming, comprising a range of TV shows including Sir David Attenborough-fronted documentaries Blue Planet and Planet Earth.

The deal also involves the splitting up of multi-channel broadcaster UKTV, which is currently owned in equal parts by the two media titans. As part of the deal, expected to complete later this year, BBC Studios will acquire seven TV channels – Alibi, Dave, Drama, Eden, Gold, Yesterday and W – along with digital player UKTV Play, and the UKTV brand.

In return, BBC Studios will make payments totalling £173 million to Discovery, including a balancing payment in relation to UKTV's acquisition and the assumption of £70 million of debt, currently financed by Discovery.

Discovery will also receive an additional payment of at least £10 million from UKTV, as the parties will share the existing cash on the company's balance sheet, reflecting outstanding dividends, and other ancillary value transfers to Discovery through the transaction. The U.S. firm will also acquire the UKTV lifestyle channels Good Food, Home and Really.

The two companies are also set to co-fund a development team within BBC Studios dedicated to creating new factual content. The arrangement marks the continuation of a relationship between the two firms, which had previously collaborated on long-term projects such as Walking with Dinosaurs and Blue Planet.