UKTV Stocks Slate for Home

LONDON: Home, UKTV’s first lifestyle channel to relaunch, has picked up a raft of new and exclusive content to mark its rollout on April 30.

Home went for seasons six and seven of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition from Endemol USA. Hosted by Ty Pennington, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for deserving families. The sixth season will start airing from May 2.

Also acquired for Home are two seasons of Love It or List It from Big Coat Productions. The show helps homeowners decide whether to sell or redecorate their home, with the help of realtor David Visentin and designer Hilary Farr. Season one of Love It or List It will have its U.K. premiere on Home this August.

Room to Improve from RTÉ is a series about changing how we live through design and adaptation in simple ways without spending a lot of money. Each episode involves the reconfiguration of an existing home to better suit the needs of the family living there while staying within a budget. The show will air every week night starting July 6.

Home has also scooped up three new seasons of Lion Television’s Homes Under the Hammer, along with relicensing seasons two and three from ALL3MEDIA. Each one-hour episode follows three properties as they go to auction, featuring valuations from local agents before and after the refurbishment works have been completed alongside interviews with the buyers themselves. Season eight of Homes Under the Hammer will premiere on Home on May 5.

Targeting a core demographic of 35- to 54-year-olds, Home features a range of home and garden programming, such as DIY SOS, Escape to the Country and Groundforce, alongside commissions such as Gutted, Love the Place You’re In and Celebrity Fantasy Homes. Its tagline is "Home—there’s no place like it."

Alexandra Finlay, UKTV’s acquisitions manager, said, “Signing these deals guarantees a continuing stream of fresh and exclusive content for Home through brand new series of banker titles like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as well as Love it or List it and Room to Improve, both of which are completely new to the U.K.”

Clare Laycock, the channel head of UKTV’s Home and Really, added, “In an increasingly uncertain world, Home will encourage viewers to love the place they’re in and celebrate the fact there’s no place like home. Acquiring these shows—most of which will be exclusive U.K. television premieres for Home—will help us attract new viewers looking for inspiration while still appealing to our core audience who love entertaining property shows.”