UKTV Food

World Screen Weekly, May 3, 2007

OWNERSHIP: UKTV, which is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media Television.

COUNTRIES: U.K., Northern Ireland

LAUNCH DATE: November 5, 2001

DESCRIPTION: As the only British channel dedicated exclusively to food programming, UKTV Food targets individuals who love eating good cuisine and cooking and see food as an integral part of their lives. Convinced that “good food brings people together,” UKTV Food fuels this motto by offering its viewers a blend of traditional and non-traditional magazine-style shows, cooking with top chefs, and food-oriented travel programming.

CEO, UKTV: David Abraham

COO, UKTV: John Keeling

DIRECTOR OF LIFESTYLE (UKTV Style, UKTV Style Gardens,

UKTV Food, UKTV Bright Ideas): Jane Mote

CHANNEL HEAD, UKTV Food and UKTV Bright Ideas: Paul Moreton

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: “People who are passionate about food also tend to be passionate about their family, their friends, travel, and other cultures, because food [connects them] to those other passions in their life,” says Paul Moreton, the channel head of UKTV Food.

Due to its accessible, unpretentious approach to all things culinary, the channel has recently found success in shows like Local Food Hero, which premiered in November 2006. The series is a nation-wide hunt for the best local restaurants, caf�s, pubs, independent shops, and even farm stalls. Local Food Hero was the UKTV network’s first multiplatform commission and prior to its premiere, UKTV Food launched the “Local Hero 2006” Campaign, a nationwide hunt to celebrate Britain’s unsung food heroes. In July 2006, the channel asked the public to vote for their favorite food producer, supplier or eating establishment online at uktvfood.co.uk. More than 4,000 suppliers were nominated by the public—“four times more than we were expecting,” confesses Moreton. After dividing the U.K. into ten distinct areas, Rhodes and two other judges, based on votes from viewers, chose a winner for each region. The ten winners then battled it out for the title of Local Food Hero 2006 and the coveted �40,000 prize to spend on their business.

“Local Food Hero focused on the web to begin with, and then turned into a TV series, rather than the traditional way of doing things,” explains Moreton. “It was really kind of bottom-up, and is indicative of what we’re trying to do with the channel, in general.”

Fifty percent of UKTV Food’s schedule consists of acquired programming. These shows, frequently purchased from the BBC, are often personality-driven, such as those hosted by Delia Smith, Britain’s best-selling cookery author, and celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein and Gary Rhodes. Last month, UKTV Food began airing Barefoot Contessa, hosted by Ina Garten, as part of an agreement with Scripps Networks in the U.S. The channel also commissions from U.K.-based independent producers.

WHAT’S NEW: UKTV Food has launched The People’s Cookbook, its second multiplatform commission. The first 10-part series has already aired and the second 10-part season is scheduled for the fall. Viewers are encouraged to submit recipes with stories describing the dish’s history. In each episode, chefs Antony Worrall Thompson and Paul Rankin champion their favorite dishes and put home-style recipes to the audience vote. The network also hopes to publish 60 generational recipes from the U.K. in the print version of the cookbook, which will be published by Infinite Ideas and launched later this year in time for Christmas.

April also saw the launch of Optomen Television’s Market Kitchen, a new daily food magazine series presenting ideas on where to enjoy and cook the very best of British food. The series uses Borough Market, the “pinnacle of food markets in the U.K.,” according to Moreton, as a key location. “We’re taking the magazine format out of the stale studio environment and having it in a real place with real people,” he adds. The program celebrates local producers of seasonal food, and is presented by a team of four knowledgeable food experts that include food writer Tana Ramsay, the wife of chef Gordon Ramsay, and Tom Parker-Bowles, one of the U.K.’s top food critics and Camilla-Parker Bowles’ son.

WEBSITE: www.uktvfood.co.uk