Comedy Channel Takes On BBC Worldwide Titles

SYDNEY: FOXTEL’s The Comedy Channel has licensed a raft of comedies from BBC Worldwide, among them the new Steve Coogan show Alan Partridge’s Mid-Morning Matters.

The deal, totaling more than 40 hours of programming, sees seasons one and two of Alan Partridge’s Mid-Morning Matters debuting on The Comedy Channel in early 2012. The show, a Baby Cow production, stems from the successful online short program that launched last year.

The Steve Coogan comedy Coogan’s Run, a Pozzitive Television production, and Saxondale seasons one and two, from Baby Cow, were also included. Specials such as Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters, Steve Coogan: The Inside Story and Steve Coogan: The Man Who Think He’s It are part of the deal as well.

Other BBC comedy titles headed to the FOXTEL channel include Alan Carr: Tooth Fairy; Red Dwarf seasons one, two, seven and eight; and the 2009 special Red Dwarf: Back to Earth.

“Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge is an icon of comedy and it’s great to have him back,” commented Irene Read, BBC Worldwide Australia’s sales manager for subscription television. “This package for The Comedy Channel is British comedy at its best, with Steve Coogan at the heart of it.”

“The Comedy Channel is delighted with the Steve Coogan titles acquired from BBC Worldwide and look forward to bringing these programs to our audiences in the new year,” added Fleur Fahey, the general manager of acquisitions for the FOXTEL Channels Group.