Coronation Street Heads to Finland

LONDON, July 17: Following
the renewal of a multi-year combined-genre output deal, Finland’s YLE has
picked up more than 100 episodes of the long-running British drama Coronation
Street from ITV Worldwide for TV1.

The series is set to debut
in Finland on TV1 later this year. ITV’s Heartbeat, The Royal, Agatha Christie’s Marple and Agatha Christie’s Poirot are all top performers on YLE 1.

The head of international
program acquisitions at YLE, Tarmo Kivikallio, said: “ITV Worldwide’s
programming across all genres continues to be a ‘must have’ for us in Finland.
We’re very excited about the prospect of airing Coronation Street—one of the most renowned of all British television
dramas. We believe its strong and contemporary story lines will strike a cord
with our viewers.”

Samantha McMillon, ITV’s
senior sales executive, added: “I am delighted to continue this important
relationship by extending our deal with YLE. They have found over the years
that our programming wins top ratings for their channels and we are sure the
addition of Coronation Street
within the new output agreement will further strengthen their schedules.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski