LATEST NEWS HEADLINES
Trotters to return in Only Fools and Horses prequel
Del Boy’s coming back to BBC1 – but as a teenager.
F1 host and Blue Peter producer in Salford move
Sports presenter Dan Walker and Blue Peter producer Ewan Vinnicombe are among 216 mid-tier BBC staff moving to Salford MediaCity in 2011.
C4 viewers question Michael Jackson tribute
Channel 4’s coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has divided viewers, with questions raised both about the amount of airtime given over to the pop star and of whether Big Brother housemates should have been told.
Robin Hood axed
The BBC has axed Robin Hood after ratings plunged to 2.2m for the climax of the third series.
THE BROADCAST INTERVIEW
Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Trust
Whether it’s the licence fee, Lonely Planet or Wossy’s big mouth, the BBC Trust is criticised outside as well as within the BBC. How does its chairman manage?
LATEST BBC NEWS
Trotters to return in Only Fools and Horses prequel
Del Boy’s coming back to BBC1 – but as a teenager.
F1 host and Blue Peter producer in Salford move
Sports presenter Dan Walker and Blue Peter producer Ewan Vinnicombe are among 216 mid-tier BBC staff moving to Salford MediaCity in 2011.
LATEST ITV NEWS
ITV is recession’s ‘worst offender’
Indies have singled out ITV as the most difficult broadcaster to deal with in the economic downturn.
Grade slams BBC partnerships
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has rubbished the BBC’s partnership proposals and criticised the corporation’s efforts to avoid top-slicing the licence fee.
LATEST CHANNEL 4 NEWS
C4 viewers question Michael Jackson tribute
Channel 4’s coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has divided viewers, with questions raised both about the amount of airtime given over to the pop star and of whether Big Brother housemates should have been told.
McKerrow defends Boys and Girls Alone
SHOWCOMOTION: Richard McKerrow, creative director of Love Productions, has hit back at critics of his Channel 4 series Boys and Girls Alone for making snap judgements claiming they did not what they were talking about.
FIVE
Airey: content providers "staring into abyss"
Dawn Airey has warned that if British broadcasters fail to build mutually beneficial partnerships “the creators and providers of UK content are not so much looking at a perfect storm as staring into the abyss.”
ITV, C4 and Five rapped for pushing products
Chat show hosts Alan Titchmarsh and Paul O’Grady as well as Five News gave undue promotion to products in recent shows, Ofcom has ruled.
OTHER MULTICHANNEL NEWS
Disney hunting British Zac Efron
SHOWCOMOTION: Disney wants to find the “next Zac Efron” in the UK, with plans to produce shows in the vein of High School Musical and Hannah Montana that target boys.
New name for History Channel UK
The History Channel UK group has rebranded as AETN UK in a bid to broaden its association beyond one genre of programming.
MTV retunes with more music and indies fund
MTV1 is to return to its music performance roots in an overhaul that will also give UK indies the chance to pitch for commissions from a new international MTV fund.
ESPN 'planning daily sports show'
ESPN is planning a daily sports show as part of its new Premier League football package, Broadcast has learned.
Sci-Fi acquires US fantasy drama
Sci-Fi channel has snapped up the UK, pay-TV rights to ABC Studio’s Legend of the Seeker, a fantasy drama series executive produced by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi.
COMMENT
NEWS ANALYSIS
Expenses: The drive toward deeper disclosure
The BBC is due to publish its exec and non-exec board members’ expenses this October, but should it take the long, hard road to reveal more allowances.
