BBC director general Mark Thompson and Microsoft's Bill Gates have signed an agreement to work on exploring opportunities for the delivery and consumption of BBC content.

The plans include an online archive, and radically overhauled website and other ways to share online content in the future.

Thompson said the BBC needed to forge strategic partnerships with technology companies for the benefit of licence payers. Highfield added that Microsoft was a key supplier to the BBC and that it was a gateway to audiences through web services such as MSN and Windows Live Messenger and hardware such as Xbox and Windows Media Center.

He added: "The BBC needs to work with all players in this space to make sure our content is enjoyed by the widest possible audience, without them having to come to bbc.co.uk to find it."

Areas of potential collaboration include search and navigation, distribution and content enablement. Any actual procurements of new technology or launch of new services by the BBC would be subject to regulatory approval.

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But as a license payer does that mean I'm paying for everyone to see it around the world, where is the added value for me?