World Screen

LONDON: ITV Studios has been commissioned to make a second season of the comedy Fool Britannia for ITV. The comedy premiered on TV in September 2012. Six additional half-hour episodes are being produced, featuring comedian Dom Joly as he enlists new characters and setups to fool an unsuspecting British public. …

LONDON: The incoming director-general at the BBC, Tony Hall, has announced the first in a series of changes to the senior team, including tapping James Purnell for the post of director of strategy and digital. Purnell is currently a senior producer at Rare Day and advisor to the Boston Consulting …

PREMIUM: Steve Hornsey, the general manager of Watch, talks to TV Europe about the successful programming strategy at UKTV’s flagship entertainment channel. WS: As a channel brand, what does Watch want to offer viewers? HORNSEY: Watch is UKTV’s flagship entertainment channel screening a broad mix of content, including scripted drama, …

PARIS: The Canal+ Group has scored the exclusive rights across all media in France for the Formula 1 motor racing world championships. The deal includes all the race action, starting with the March 17 competition in Melbourne, Australia, as well as practices, qualifying stages and accompanying magazine programs. The rights …

LONDON: Damian Kavanagh, who is currently the head of features and factual formats at Channel 4, has been appointed as the controller of BBC Daytime, with responsibility across BBC One and Two. Kavanagh replaces Liam Keelan, the former BBC Daytime controller who is now the global editorial director at BBC Worldwide. Kavanagh takes …

LONDON: Following the success of last month’s NATPE, Passion Distribution has licensed more than 150 hours of programming to broadcasters in the Iberian region. Mediaset Spain went for the second season of Room Crashers, a property show from Scripps Networks International. The broadcaster also purchased the first two seasons of …

PREMIUM: With singing competitions a staple of schedules on channels around the world, the granddaddy of them is still going strong as a massive ratings winner. The San Remo Song Festival, which has been aired by Italian public broadcaster RAI since 1955, on Saturday night (February 16) drew 12.997 million viewers …

STOCKHOLM: Advertising sales for Sweden’s TV4 Group reached an all-time high in 2012, with demand for airtime outstripping supply for the third year running. TV4 Group grew both sales and earnings for the year. Sales were up by more than 6 percent to SEK 5,885 million ($930.5 million), with operating …

ROME: Sky Sport F1 HD is a brand-new HD channel on Sky Italia that is dedicated to covering all the action from the world of Formula1 racing. The service will be airing all of the live 2013 Grand Prix races, ten of which will be exclusive. There will be live broadcasts …

LONDON: The British DTT provider Freeview is launching a new marketing campaign targeting its pay-TV rivals, asking viewers if they are paying too much to watch their favorite programs. The campaign, created by the Leo Burnett agency, claims that 95 percent of the top 1,000 programs that aired on British …