Five Announces Renewals, Pickups

CANNES,
April 16: Five in the U.K. has renewed its rights to Buena Vista International
Television’s Grey’s Anatomy and NBC Universal International Television
Distribution’s House and Law & Order franchise, and has acquired
Chorion’s Mr. Men Show.

The new BVITV deal will continue to give Five the
exclusive U.K. terrestrial rights to Grey’s Anatomy, which Vanessa
Brookman, Five’s controller of acquisitions, said is a “perfect fit for Five’s
raft of top rating acquired dramas.”

The British broadcaster’s deal with NBC Universal
International Television Distribution keeps House and the Law & Order franchise on the channel,
and grants it the rights to air them on its digital channels, Five US and Five
Life.

Lisa
Opie, Five’s MD of content, noted: “I am thrilled that we will be able to show House and the Law &
Order franchise
across all of our channels. Five has an enviable reputation of acquiring the
best U.S. dramas and I am delighted that we can now broaden this further to
reach even more viewers.”

On
the kids’ end, the channel has picked up the new Mr. Men show from Chorion for a
2008 launch. The 52×11-minute series, acquired by Cartoon Network in the U.S.
last week, will air on Five’s Milkshake block. Five’s
controller of children’s programming, Nick Wilson, said, “The new Mr. Men Show is a
funny and engaging program that will sit perfectly within the Milkshake! strand.
Following the success of Noddy, we are very excited to be again
working with Chorion to bring Roger Hargreaves’ much-loved characters to a new
generation of viewers.”