BT to make ad-funded debut with reality show

BT is making its first foray into advertiser-funded programming in a ground-breaking deal to sponsor and provide financial backing for ITV primetime reality show With a Little Help From My Friends.

Fronted by Linda Barker, the programme airs from mid-October. Each show revolves around a celebrity spearheading a community project aided by old schoolfriends, whom they contact via web site Friends Reunited.

BT is providing all the technology for the projects, including telephony, wireless web access and networking.

The series starts with Neil Morrissey renovating a youth centre. It also includes Phil Tufnell building a cricket pavilion for underprivileged kids, as well as a project involving Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

BT's marketing director, Amanda MacKenzie, said: "This programme is spot-on for us as an exposition of what we're about as a brand."

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