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ITV Commissions Planet’s Got Talent

December 8, 2014

LONDON: From the producers of Britain's Got Talent comes the new six-part series Planet's Got Talent, commissioned by ITV to air in early 2015. The 6×30-minute series will be narrated by Warwick Davis (Life's Too Short). Planet's Got Talent is produced by Thames, part of FremantleMedia UK, and Syco Entertainment. …

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Ofcom: Number of U.K. Homes with TVs Drops for the First Time

December 9, 2014

LONDON: Ofcom reports that after years of consecutive growth, the number of TV households in the U.K. has fallen from 26.33 million at the end of 2012 to 26.02 million at the end of 2013, as viewers increasingly opt for alternative devices. New data from the U.K. watchdog finds that …

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Plans Unveiled for Online-Only BBC Three

December 11, 2014

LONDON: Tony Hall, the director-general of the BBC, has outlined the proposal for BBC Three's move to online, where content would be divided under two editorial pillars: Make Me Think and Make Me Laugh. Hall said that the proposed changes, which are subject to approval by the BBC Trust, would …

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Viacom Appoints U.K. Acquisitions Head

December 11, 2014

LONDON: Katie Keenan, who is currently the head of acquisitions for Channel 5, has become the head of acquisitions for Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) U.K., covering all of its TV channels in the country. Keenan will be responsible for acquiring programming for Channel 5 as well as Comedy Central, …

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Damian Kavanagh to Lead BBC Three

December 12, 2014

LONDON: Damian Kavanagh, the BBC's controller of daytime, has been tapped as the digital controller for BBC Three, ahead of its move online. Kavanagh will take up the new post in January 2015. He has been serving as BBC Three project lead, spearheading plans for the proposal to move the …

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Ofcom: U.K. Public Broadcasters’ Program Spend, Viewing Drops

December 15, 2014

LONDON: Ofcom has published its third review of the U.K.'s public service broadcasting (PSB), reporting that the PSB sector is performing well despite falls in both program spend and viewing. Audiences told Ofcom that PSB is meeting their needs, with 77 percent of viewers satisfied with the PSB channels, up …

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BBC Worldwide Hires New Global Programming & Acquisitions Chief

December 15, 2014

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has appointed Jon Farrar as the senior VP for global programming and acquisitions, bolstering the company’s continued genre-channel launch plans. Farrar began his media career at BBC Worldwide in 1998 as deputy editor of U.K. Play. In 2002, he became head of programming for Viacom’s VH1 branded …

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Ofcom Appoints New Chief Executive

December 16, 2014

LONDON: Sharon White has been tapped as the new chief executive of Ofcom, replacing Ed Richards, who will step down at the end of December after leading the organization for eight years. White will join Ofcom in late March 2015 from HM Treasury, where she is second permanent secretary. She …

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Acting Controller in Place at BBC Daytime

December 17, 2014

LONDON: Following Damian Kavanagh’s appointment as the digital controller of BBC Three, Jo Street, currently the commissioning editor of daytime, will take on the role of acting controller for daytime. Street’s currently responsible for daytime and early peak commissioning from Scotland and Northern Ireland. She has worked across a variety …

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Pickbox Launches on MaxTV in Croatia

December 17, 2014

ZAGREB: Pickbox.tv has inked a deal with Croatia's Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT) that sees the SVOD service now available on the IPTV platform MaxTV. Under the agreement, users will be able to subscribe to Pickbox through MaxTV to watch unlimited content on their television sets for a monthly fee. They will be …