Alba Communications Producing New Titles for AETN

LONDON, June 28: The British factual entertainment company
Alba Communications has announced a new round of programs for A&E
Television Networks (AETN), including music specials on Bono, Tina Turner and
Aretha Franklin, among others.

Alba had originally secured the programming deal with AETN
in mid-2006, calling for the production of a package of titles for Biography
Channel and The History Channel. The first three A&E programs produced by
Alba—on Olivia Newton-John, Grace Slick, and Twiggy—aired in late
2006. The fourth A&E program produced by Alba—a profile of Sean
Connery—had its U.S. premiere on June 7 in a prime-time slot on the
Biography Channel.

All Biography Channel programs produced by Alba are being
delivered in HD formats as A&E Television rolls out its U.S. HD channels.
Alba has begun production on a slew of programs for the Biography Channel for
this year, including specials on Bono, Tina Turner, Daniel Craig, Valerie
Bertinelli and Aretha Franklin, who is granting one of her first interviews in
years. For History International, Alba is in production on programs centered
around public figures such as Calico Jack, Mohammed Rashid Al-Maktoum, Augusto
Pinochet, and the Sultan of Brunei. These personality-driven biographies and
history-biography hybrids are in production under the direction of Peter
Tarshis, the Biography Channel’s VP of programming.

In addition, Alba has announced that Jim Brown, who joined
Alba Communications in mid-2006 as series producer on the first three A&E
projects (Olivia Newton-John, Grace Slick and Twiggy), has joined the company
full time as the director of programming. Brown joins managing director Ken
Maliphant and North American director Jim Lyle as a full-time company director
and shareholder. Under Brown, Alba Communications has six further projects in
development for key U.S. and U.K. channels, including National Geographic and
Discovery Communications.

“The shift to the biography category was a natural for Alba,
given our company’s strong tradition in history programs,” said Maliphant.
“What Jim Brown contributes is an enormous level of talent and experience. The
results are great programs with strong ratings and very satisfied celebrity
personalities.”