London, March 2015: Reuters, the world‟s largest international multimedia news provider, announced a partnership with ITN Source to make historical archive footage far more accessible to producers and viewers around the world.

The digitisation of the Reuters video archive is making hundreds of thousands of rare and largely unseen news clips digitally available for preview and licensing on itnsource.com, preserving this unique material for the benefit of future generations.

To date, over 115,000 Reuters clips have been digitised and published on itnsource.com, expanding the Reuters digital archive to nearly half a million clips and counting.

The project is set to finish in 2016. Footage being digitised consists of the Reuters News syndication service from 1957 to 2006 and earlier cinema newsreels from 1910 to 1959, including the Gaumont, Paramount and Universal collections. Material from 2006 onwards is already available in digital format.
 
ITN Source‟s experienced researchers have prioritised the digitisation of material relevant to upcoming anniversaries and events, such as the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II – featuring a substantial collection of post-war Winston Churchill footage – in addition to material in response to specific customer requests. Highlights of the most recently digitised Reuters material is available at www.itnsource.com/en/specials/reuters-digitisation-february-2015/ and is updated on a regular basis as new material is digitised and uploaded.
 
Ashley Byford-Bates, Global Head of Reuters Pictures and Archive, said, “Having our assets in digital format is critical. It gives broadcasters, production houses and online publishers a real opportunity to explore, discover and see the footage. With over 30,000 hours of content preserved, we can now focus on the really exciting task of making the unique Reuters collection available for new programmes, projects and audiences.”


Andy Williams, Managing Director at ITN Source, said: “The Reuters archive is incredibly popular and we are delighted to play our part in making this fantastic collection far more accessible to our clients around the world.” As part of this programme, ITN Source has also re-catalogued and published a collection of interesting and quirky clips from the early 2000s called „Reuters Life!‟. This collection features international coverage of the environment, entertainment, lifestyle, arts and culture in an amusing and light-hearted style. www.itnsource.com/en/specials/reuters-life/


The digitisation of the Reuters archive is just one example of how Reuters provides effective solutions for their clients in a rapidly evolving media landscape. To find out more visit www.reuters.com/newsagency