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LONDON: Ben Farrell, the head of comedy at Objective Productions, has been appointed as an executive producer for BBC's in-house comedy division, effective September 2014. Since becoming Objective's head of comedy in 2008, Farrell has exec produced such hit shows as Toast of London, Game Face, Parents, Big Bad World, …

LONDON: The Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report has revised its forecasts upwards for the U.K.'s ad market, with growth rates predicted to reach 6 percent in 2014 and 6.7 percent in 2015, as TV enjoys a welcome lift from the World Cup. According to the report, total U.K. advertising expenditure increased …

LONDON: Melanie Leach has been named CEO of the newly rebranded Twofour Group, formed through the merger of Boom Pictures and Twofour, which is also separating out its digital business as a standalone operation. Leach, previously the managing director of Twofour, will lead the consolidation of Boom and Twofour Broadcast, …

LONDON: John Stanley, the senior VP and managing director of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Nordics, is taking on overall leadership of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution UK and Warner Bros. Consumer Products UK. Stanley's new responsibilities will be added on to his existing duties. …

LONDON: Tony Hall, the BBC's director-general, has unveiled plans that would do away with the BBC's current programming quota system, also proposing that in-house producers should be able to make shows for other broadcasters. Hall was speaking at the "Future of the Licence Fee" seminar in London when he described …

STOCKHOLM: FOX International Channels (FIC) is increasing the reach of its general-entertainment channel FOX through a new distribution agreement with Sweden's Boxer DTT network. The upcoming Boxer launch expands FOX's subscriber base by around 500,000 across all major Boxer packages. Along with the previously announced launch for FOX on Com …

AMSTERDAM: Effective this August, Jan Hendrik Smeege is taking on the role of head of development at Zodiak Nederland. Smeege will be leading the development team of the Dutch Zodiak Media outfit and will also be responsible for creating new concepts and adapting international formats for the Dutch market. Previously, …

STRASBOURG: A new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory has revealed that as of February, there are 3,088 on-demand services established in the E.U. and listed in the MAVISE database, most of which originate from the U.K. The report, On-Demand Audiovisual Markets in the European Union, finds that catch-up TV …

LONDON: Dominic Coles, the director of operations for the BBC, has been lined up to become the COO and CFO of Discovery Networks Western Europe in the fall. In his new role, Coles will report to Dee Forbes, the company's president and managing director of Western Europe, and Doug Baker, …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide is getting a first look at productions from Cuba Pictures, which is part of the Curtis Brown Group. BBC Worldwide will provide investment, co-production expertise, access to market research and development initiatives in addition to global marketing reach in return for the first look at new content. …