UKTV to Establish New Production Facility

LONDON: UKTV is launching its new state-of-the-art production studios at its London headquarters next month.

The facility will create 12 brand-new job roles, forming an expanded team of 28 creatives and production staff, who will produce some 2,500 promos and 700 pieces of content a year for the network. Previously, UKTV had outsourced this work, but as part of the broadcaster’s ambitious growth strategy, it has now invested in building its own production center.

The studios will become home to a team of seven staff from the post-production company The Farm Group. They will manage the edit suites, putting the finishing touches to the work done by UKTV’s creative team.

UKTV’s CEO, Darren Childs, said, “UKTV is celebrating incredible growth, attracting 42 million viewers every month by investing over £123 million in compelling content. This is a company committed to innovation and the future of television, and now is the right time in UKTV’s evolution to expand our fantastically talented creative team and bring it in-house. These new studios provide a flexible work and entertainment space, allowing us to supercharge our creativity and expand our expertise.”

The broadcaster’s marketing director, Simon Michaelides, commented, “UKTV’s new high-tech facility will provide us with greater flexibility and enable collaboration between all stakeholders much earlier in the creative process, which will allow us to take an even more imaginative and integrated approach to our on-air marketing. The new facility also reduces our overall cost base, meaning more money can be invested in production.”

David Klafkowski, the managing director of The Farm Group, said, “Ensuring a smooth transition for UKTV to their brand-new facility is of paramount importance to us. We are thrilled to be working with UKTV and are looking forward to building on the foundations we have already started laying with Scott and his team to support them in creating stunning and spectacular content to help promote UKTV as they grow their portfolio and audience shares.”

The broadcaster is coming to the end of a ten-year contractual relationship with Red Bee Media, which currently produces core creative work for UKTV’s channels. Michaelides said, “I’d like to personally thank Red Bee Media who have played a significant role in our success over the past ten years.”