Broadcast
26 August 2011

View all stories from this issue.

22 Aug '11

“The constestants have been hand-picked to provide the finest possible combination of looks, talent, arrogance and insanity.” Read on for the verdict on the weekend’s TV.
23 Aug '11

“Oliver was on fine form here, showing us genuinely interesting things.” Read on for the verdict last night’s TV.
24 Aug '11

“It was far from gratuitous as, true to squaddie stereotype, the hills they trained in rang with banter.” Read on for the verdict on last night’s TV.
25 Aug '11

“It more than lived up to its pre-broadcast hype as a radical reassessment of the relationship between Wallis and Edward.” Read on for the verdict on last night’s TV.
3ality acquires Element Technica

3D production technology firm 3ality Digital has acquired its “primary competitor”, stereo rig manufacturer Element Technica.
Alex Crawford defends Sky News independence

EDINBURGH: Sky News foreign correspondent Alex Crawford has fiercely defended the organisation’s editorial independence while recounting her experiences of reporting from Libya.
Appropriate Adult, ITV1

Making drama based on real-life events takes sensitivity and painstaking research, especially when murder is involved, says Lisa Gilchrist.
Argumental revamped with two-screen game

Dave panel show Argumental is to feature an interactive playalong game when it returns for a fourth series in October.
Arsenal victory draws 6m peak

WEDNESDAY: ITV1 scored a peak audience of nearly 6m viewers as Arsenal scraped through to the Champions League group stage.
Attenborough to be honoured by IBC

Sir David Attenborough will receive IBC’s International Honour for Excellence at this year’s trade show.
Autodesk launches Mac video effects app

Autodesk has released a movement-based video effects app for Mac OS X Lion.
Autodesk launches subs packs

Autodesk has launched subscription packs for its 2012 Entertainment Creation Suites, which include Maya, Motionbuilder and Mudbox.
Avalon boss criticises BBC over talent pay

EDINBURGH: John Thoday, managing director of Avalon has criticised the BBC for refusing to meet the pay demands of talent arguing it ultimately costs the broadcaster more money.
Avid partners with the University of Salford

The University of Salford has partnered with Avid, securing four internships with the tech firm.
BBC defends Tripoli coverage

The BBC has defended its coverage of the weekend’s events in Tripoli after critics took to Twitter on Monday.
BBC goes potty with V&A

The BBC is running a year of programmes that aims to be the most wide-ranging examination of the decorative arts as part of a partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum.
BBC plans ‘better than 3D’ Olympic experience

EDINBURGH: The BBC is to screen events from the Olympic Games in Super Hi Vision - producing a 16-times HD picture quality.
BBC1 boss unveils comedy/drama plans

EDINBURGH: BBC1 controller Danny Cohen has revealed a third series of Luther, a doc with comedian Kevin Bridges and a live natural history series as part of a raft of new commissions.
BBC2’s The Hour to return

EDINBURGH: The BBC has commissioned a second series of period newsroom drama The Hour.
BBC3 grounds Hotter Than My Daughter

Zai Bennett is axing makeover show Hotter Than My Daughter and is considering the future of Snog Marry Avoid?, following a review of his channel’s pre-watershed slots.
BBC3 to air Doctor Who short

BBC3 is to air a one-off mini episode of Doctor Who written by school children who won a competition earlier this year.
BBC3’s Cherry takes a bruising

MONDAY: The latest BBC3 doc special from Cherry Healey drew the lowest ratings for the presenter this year – on a poor night all-round for multichannel.
BBC4 buys Oz drama The Slap

BBC4 has acquired Australian drama The Slap, an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Christos Tsiolkas.
BBC4 series to explore lives of medieval royalty

BBC4 has commissioned a series looking at medieval monarchy, as captured in the period’s intricately illuminated manuscripts.
Billie Piper to star in BBC3 comedy

Zai Bennett has revealed a raft of commissions for BBC3, including a new comedy pilot starring Billie Piper from the director of The Inbetweeners Movie and a doc that takes a sceptical look at 9/11 conspiracies.
Boaden backs Newsnight

The BBC’s director of news Helen Boaden has hit back at claims that Newsnight is “losing its way”, describing them as “wholly inaccurate and unfair”.
Body of Proof tones up

TUESDAY: US crime drama Body of Proof scored its biggest audience since its record-breaking debut on Alibi last month.
Bristol's Bottle Yard brings in £8m

Bristol’s Bottle Yard production facility (pictured) has attracted more than £8m in investment into Bristol since it launched last year.
Broadcast Hot Shots 2011

From writers to schedulers, and producers to marketers, Broadcast’s Hot Shots 2011 reveals the young industry names who are already making their mark.
Broadcast Sports Inc in UK expansion drive

Broadcast Sports Inc (BSI) has set up an office in the UK as it expands into Europe and begins selling its RF products.
Brooker writes crime spoof for Sky1

Charlie Brooker has penned a feature-length comedy for Sky1 billed as a spoof of every British crime drama made in the last decade.
Bullying in TV: the ugly truth

Bullying in TV has become significantly worse over the past decade, with long-term harassment, plagiarism of ideas and fits of yelling all commonplace.
C4 follows up SBTV pilot with series order for T4

A T4 pilot charting the success of online youth broadcaster SBTV will be turned into a 5 x 30-minute series for the Channel 4 teen strand.
C4 launches 'My 4oD' account service

Channel 4’s online catch-up service 4oD will re-launch with a range of additional features allowing users to personalise their viewing from 31 August.
C4 lining up major entertainment projects

Channel 4 is planning to launch a major entertainment show in January, with six shows currently in consideration.
C4 links off-peak and daytime commissioning

Channel 4 off-peak commissioning will now sit in the daytime department to make commissioning for the slots more coherent.
C4 seeking product placement for Deal or No Deal

EDINBURGH: Channel 4 is talking to Endemol to create a product placement deal for hit gameshow Deal or No Deal.
C4 to plough £2.5m into daytime

EDINBURGH: Channel 4 has invested an extra £2.5m in daytime commissioning and 40% of that will be spent in Scotland for the rest of this year.
C4 to plough millions into viewer research

Channel 4 has made a multi-million pound investment in a major audience research project and has named the senior team that will drive it forward.
C4 wants Comms Act to address data

EDINBURGH: Channel 4 will push for the forthcoming Communications Act to ensure that it gets access to the viewer data that the likes of BSkyB generate from its content.
Carpool takes return trip to online roots

Chat show Carpool, in which Robert Llewellyn interviews guests while driving, is moving off Dave to return to its online roots for its second series.
Celebrity Big Brother ratings tumble

SUNDAY: Celebrity Big Brother’s first weekend on Channel 5 drew to a close with a series low audience of under 2.2m - a 58% drop on its debut.
Channelflip signs Ronson for web doc

Jon Ronson, the documentary maker and writer of The Men Who Stare at Goats, is to launch an online series in which he will explore the people who try to control the internet.
Chapman to lose third of staff

Chapman Entertainment, the kids indie behind Roary the Racing Car and Fifi & the Flowertots, is losing a third of its workforce but expansion could be on the horizon, its creative director has said.
China lands on Frozen Planet

A major new BBC doc series from the makers of Planet Earth has been picked up by China’s CCTV.
Christian channel rapped over "miracle" cures

Christian channel Believe TV is facing statutory sanctions from Ofcom after broadcasting claims that holy soaps and oils had cured cancer, kidney failure and diabetes.
Clement and La Frenais pen BBC4 wartime drama

A wartime novel described as “Casablanca meets John le Carre” has been adapted for BBC4 by acclaimed writing partners Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
Comedy Central reveals Friends plans

Comedy Central will strip the entire series of Friends from its first episode as it “takes ownership” of the show following its departure from Channel 4.
Commissioning: it’s a charade

Indies are banging their heads against a wall, says Gerri Gossage.
Connock resurfaces at Pretend

Alex Connock has resurfaced to take ownership of a Manchester-based indie he established in his final year as chief executive of Ten Alps.
Daniela Neumann lands content role at Viasat

Former VMTV director of programmes Daniela Neumann has been hired by European broadcaster Viasat to lead a push into more original commissions and acquisitions.
Datavideo SE-3000

Datavideo’s flagship vision mixer.
Date set for restart of RKT tribunal

The employment tribunal brought by former employees of Rocket Post Production (RKT) and ILab for unfair dismissal will restart on 20 September.
David Walliams show cleared over "thick" comment

Channel 4 has been cleared by Ofcom after a former Mastermind contestant branded “astoundingly thick” by David Walliams complained to the regulator.
Dead Donkey writer pens phone hacking comedy for C4

Channel 4 has ordered a phone hacking comedy from Drop the Dead Donkey writer Guy Jenkin.
Dragonfly wins biggest commission

Dragonfly has secured its biggest commission to date: an extreme competition format filmed in eight locations around the world.
Edinburgh’s the only place to be if you work in TV

From convergence to creativity, the festival tackles all the issues, says George Entwistle.
Ellis and Howells win first acquisition

Former Target Entertainment executives Oliver Ellis and Helen Howells have won their first acquisition from Cbeebies.
Elstein: Sky to exceed BBC/ITV quality

EDINBURGH: Sky’s growing investment in UK productions is shifting the debate about its impact on competition in the TV industry, according to a former director of programmes.
Endemol UK auditor warns on group debt

Financial restructuring has led Endemol UK to post a profit of £92m for 2010 - but its auditor has warned that its parent group remains likely to breach its loan covenants.
Fawlty Towers producer dies

Veteran comedy producer/director and former head of BBC comedy John Howard Davies has died from cancer at the age of 72.
Film revenue boosts Pinewood results

Pinewood Shepperton has seen a rise in revenue for the first half of the year, with the continuing decline in income from TV offset by the growth of its film services division.
Films at 59 lands Cardiff studios deal

Post-production and hire company Films at 59 has won a three-year contract to service the BBC’s new Roath Lock studios in Cardiff.
Final DQF proposals begin to take shape

A picture of the BBC’s final Delivering Quality First proposals is emerging, which includes running News 24 on BBC2 Daytime, an archive and repeats-focused BBC4, and a consolidation of English regions.
Food Network returns to India

Scripps Network-owned Food Network UK has ordered its second UK commission with a gastro-tourism series set in India.
Former Thames Television exec dies

Ian Martin, the former editor of ITV’s This Week and factual executive at Thames Television, has died aged 75.
Foster heads to Tyrell

Former Altered Images support engineer Ian Foster has joined Tyrell CCT as technical support engineer.
Frankie Boyle to make Zeppotron pilot for C4

Channel 4 has revealed Frankie Boyle’s new project will be called the Rehabilitation Programme and is being made by Endemol-owned Zeppotron.
Friday at Edinburgh 2011

An at-a-glance round-up of stories from the first day of the Edinburgh International Television Festival 2011.
Google: regulation is crippling British TV

EDINBURGH: Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has warned that the UK TV industry is being stifled by having to “jump through endless hoops”. [Includes full speech]
Great British Food Revival to return

BBC2 has ordered a second helping of campaigning series The Great British Food Revival.
Harmonic launches media server

Harmonic today announced that it has added the MediaDeck 7000 system to its Omneon Spectrum media server product line.
HD to reach 70% of UK homes in five years

More than 70% of UK households will be watching HD channels by 2016, according to figures from Informa.
Home to transform wrecks into dream houses

UKTV’s Home has ordered a new series in which dilapidated houses will be renovated into the owners’ dream houses.
Hunt could drop N+R quotas

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is considering scrapping nations and regions quotas for the commercial PSBs as part of the new Communications Act, Broadcast has learned.
Hunt urges Virgin and YouView to support local TV

The government is in talks with Virgin Media and YouView over securing prominent positioning for local TV services on their internet-enabled television platforms.
Impossible to re-appear on C5

Channel 5’s magic-themed gameshow Impossible?, which was pulled mid-run earlier this year, is to make a return to tap into Big Brother’s audience.
Indie sector earns 25% of revenues from overseas

International sales of TV shows have risen by 34% year-on-year to account for more than a quarter of the indie sector’s total revenues according to Pact figures released today.
Indies look overseas as UK orders decline

Commissions and co-productions funded by international broadcasters could soon be worth more to the indie sector than those from the BBC, if current trends continue.
iPlayer via IPTV up 77%

The BBC iPlayer saw requests from IPTV platforms such as BT Vision, Freesat and Virgin Media’s Tivo jump by 77% in July.
ITV eyes comedy season

EDINBURGH: ITV is considering the launch of a comedy season that could potentially help it tackle its Friday night ratings drought.
ITV restructures pension scheme

ITV has reorganised its pension scheme to offset the risk of retired staff living longer than predicted.
ITV to launch Red or Black? online games

ITV has struck deals to launch a raft of games around new million pound, Simon Cowell-produced gameshow Red or Black?.
ITV unveils heavyweight Saturday night schedule

ITV1 has unveiled an heavyweight Saturday night line-up, with Simon Cowell’s Red or Black? and Jonathan Ross’ new chat show scheduled to launch on the same night.
ITV1 and BBC3 named channels of the year

EDINBURGH: ITV1 has been named terrestrial channel of the year at the Edinburgh International TV Festival for the first time.
Jain sets out ITV digital strategy

EDINBURGH: Angela Jain, ITV’s recently installed director of digital channels, has made finding a sitcom for ITV2 a priority and is planning to “reposition and repurpose” ITV4.
John Yorke: my big break as a director

Some 15 years after training as a director, BBC drama production controller John Yorke finally got his first on-screen credit, on Holby City. Going back to the floor, he was in for a shock
Katie Piper signs two-year deal with Channel 4

Channel 4 has signed up former model Katie Piper to a two-year exclusive deal and has also revealed some details of new projects for Derren Brown and Jimmy Doherty.
Left Bank hires Luther exec

Left Bank Pictures has snapped up the services of Luther producer Katie Swinden and is targeting a push into the US on the back of Sky 1/HBO co-pro Strike Back.
Let's Do Lunch

Design and produce titles, content graphics and stings that have a different feel to other daytime TV shows.
Lime eyes second structured reality show in Liverpool

The Only Way Is Essex indie Lime Pictures is developing a Liverpool-based structured reality series for ITV1.
Monkey to reversion C4 marriage doc as US series

Monkey Kingdom is to adapt a 2010 Cutting Edge documentary about newly married couples into a major series for US cable network Bravo.
Mount Pleasant

Convey a sense of the upwardly mobile, sassy and stylish people that inhabit a Manchester suburb.
Mount Pleasant gets strong start on Sky1

WEDNESDAY: Mount Pleasant, Sky1’s new comedy drama entertained a healthy 506,700 (2.1%) significantly building on the slot average.
MTV lands more Geordie Shore

MTV has ordered a second series of structured reality show Geordie Shore after it became the broadcaster’s most-watched show.
Murphy hunting Sky “Apprentice”

EDINBURGH: Sky 1 is hunting for a new factual entertainment format to exceed BBC1’s The Apprentice by injecting “genuine jeopardy”.
O’Reilly ageism victory a “terrible day for TV”

EDINBURGH: BBC guidelines introduced following the Miriam O’Reilly ageism case have been slammed as “grotesque” and “damaging to creativity” by a panel at Edinburgh.
Off Cuts: CNN's Libyan Tripoli-up

Blame it on the speed at which events unfolded, or the fact that it all kicked off in the tail hours of the weekend.
Once a bully, always a bully?

As almost 40% admit to being a victim, can TV rid itself of the problem?
Online TV dwarfed by porn

Viewing of television VoD services comprises a tiny proportion of total online video consumption in the UK, according to new research seen by Broadcast.
Panasonic hires Hirst

Panasonic has appointed Louise Hirst to the role of business development manager.
Prince Harry reigns with 4.4m

TUESDAY: Prince Harry’s mission to the North Pole with four disabled Afghanistan veterans helped BBC1 claim the 9pm slot but slipped below the broadcaster’s usual figures.
R4 orders live sketches

Scripted comedy specialist The Comedy Unit has been commissioned to produce a live sketch show for BBC Radio 4.
Ratings: the big schedule shake-up

With new channel heads making their mark and Richard Desmond ringing the changes, Stephen Price asks how the main channels are faring, while our team assess the controllers
Ravensbourne adds Mistika

Ravensbourne has invested in SGO’s Mistika finishing system (left) for its stereoscopic 3D, 2D and DI curriculum.
Red Bee Media launches future technology survey

Red Bee Media has commissioned an industry-wide survey to examine the future of media and the impact of new technologies, changing consumer behaviours and evolving business models.
Reel History of Britain / Fraud Squad / The Man Who Crossed Hitler

Wide-Eyed’s David McNab and director Jonothan McLeod on evacuees, fraudsters and Hitler’s inquisitor.
Ricky Gervais: no offence intended

For his new series Life’s Too Short, Ricky Gervais returns to BBC2 and the mockumentary style that made him a star - but this time, he’s mostly behind the camera, he tells Paul Whitelaw.
Room 101 set to return

Room 101 is set to return to our screens with the BBC poised to greenlight a new series, this time presented by Frank Skinner.
Sally Bercow's CBB eviction draws 3.2m

FRIDAY: A peak of more than 3.2m viewers watched Sally Bercow become the first person to be evicted from Channel 5’s Big Brother house
Scottish ad market puts pressure on STV

STV has reported a 5% decline in revenues and a marginal decrease in profits as a challenging Scottish advertising market took its toll.
Scottish TV and digital media gets funding boost

Channel 4, Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland are among the organisations that will work together to deliver a £1.4m TV and digital media funding package over the next three years.
Sergeant opens Reef’s First Photo Album on BBC2

John Sergeant is to front a daytime series for BBC2 chronicling the pioneering work of Victorian photographer Francis Frith, who set out to capture the nation on film.
Sex, lies and promo tapes

Edinburgh brings the industry flocking, but it’s not just for the festival, says Steven D Wright.
Show Me the Funny has the last laugh

THURSDAY: The live final of Show Me the Funny, ITV’s comedy stand-up competition, bowed out with one of its biggest audiences of the run.
Show Me the Funny stumbles again

MONDAY: The penultimate instalment of ITV1’s Show Me the Funny dived to a new series low as Celebrity Big Brother recovered slightly.
Sky Arts orders Nixon comedy

Hat Trick is to make a new comedy drama for Sky Arts based on real recordings of President Nixon.
Sky Arts secures epic Mafia crime drama

Sky Arts has acquired an epic Italian-language crime drama about the early years of the Mafia.
Sky News' Alex Crawford praised for Libyan reports

Alex Crawford, the Sky News journalist who reported live from Tripoli with rebel forces as they drove into the Libyan city last night, has been praised for delivering her first-hand account.
Sky’s Murphy to reveal commissioning plans

Sky1 boss Stuart Murphy is to discuss commissioning opportunities across a portfolio of channels at an event in Newcastle this week.
Social networks drive TV viewing

A fifth of television’s key commercial demographic regularly discover new shows through social networking websites, a study has found.
Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets

Create a promo for the run-down of Stephen Fry’s favourite gadgets.
Structured reality

The popularity of TOWIE and Made In Chelsea has put structured reality on the TV map, but will terrestrial audiences embrace the genre?
STV Productions aims to double revenue with closer indie ties

STV will consider indie acquisitions and is targeting closer ties with the production community as part of ambitious plans to double its production arm’s revenue by 2015.
STV to launch Scottish Newsnight

STV is to launch a Scottish equivalent of Newsnight later this year as it ramps up its news content.
Surge in viewers checking PVR and VoD options first

Viewers are increasingly turning to content recorded on their PVRs and to on-demand options before exploring their linear TV guide, a Deloitte study has found.
Swinger Wives, TLC (US)

Broadcast throws its keys into the bowl for a new US series about swingers.
Tennant cast in BBC1 'improvised' drama series

BBC1 has lined up an all star cast for an ‘improvised’ drama series from Bafta-winning writer and director Dominic Savage.
The Bachelor attracts 1.3m

FRIDAY: The Bachelor, starring Welsh rugby player Gavin Henson, launched with more than 1.3m viewers as Channel 5 pulled out all the stops to attract viewers.
Top Gear steered onto Facebook

BBC Worldwide is to offer special editions of Top Gear on Facebook for less than £1 each.
TOWIE producers critical of Chelsea

EDINBURGH: Lime Pictures, the producers of The Only Way is Essex, have hit out at rival structured reality programme, Made in Chelsea.
TVC HD upgrade nears completion

BBC Studios and Post Production’s (BBC S&PP) HD upgrade of all the major studios at Television Centre (TVC) has almost been completed, with the £1.5m refit of Studios Two and Three due to be finished by early next month.
Twitter reveals TV production golden rules

Twitter director of business development Glenn Brown has outlined best practice principles for TV producers wanting to make the most of the burgeoning social network.
UK media expects strong foreign investment

The UK media sector is expecting to benefit from solid growth throughout the next decade driven by investment from abroad, according to research from Barclays Corporate.
United's Ferguson ends BBC boycott

Sir Alex Ferguson has agreed to appear on the BBC after he blackballed the broadcaster for seven years.
VIDEO: Eric Schmidt's MacTaggart lecture

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt addresses delegates of the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Virgin: YouView “missed the boat”

EDINBURGH: A Virgin Media executive has slammed YouView for “missing the boat” as a result of the numerous delays to the internet connected TV project.
Waterloo Road move ‘can build Scottish hub’

Shed founder Eileen Gallagher is convinced Waterloo Road’s move from Rochdale to Glasgow can help create a genuinely sustainable drama hub in Scotland.
Waterloo Road moving to Glasgow

Shed Productions’ Waterloo Road is being moved to Glasgow in a £25m deal designed to help establish a sustainable drama base in Scotland.
Wohler launches iPad loudness app

Wohler has updated its Pandora loudness monitoring and logging system.
X Factor launch sparks 86 complaints

The return of The X Factor has drawn complaints over aggressive behaviour during one audition and a quick flash in another.
X Factor returns with second highest launch

SATURDAY: The X Factor returned for its eighth series with its second biggest launch audience on record.

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