UK-based STV Productions has taken a 25% stake in Patrick Melrose producer Two Cities Television, with former investor BBC Studios exiting as a result. Two Cities is run by Stephen Wright, the former head of drama for BBC Northern Ireland, and ex-BBC, Channel 4 and Universal Television exec Michael Jackson, who have worked on shows […]
STV and Sky have signed a five-year strategic partnership, which will give customers in Scotland access to STV’s on-demand player on their set top boxes for the first time. Sky customers in STV’s broadcast licence areas will be able to catch up on STV programming from Coronation Street to Britain’s Got Talent on Sky Q and Sky+ […]
STV has appointed Tinopolis’ David Mortimer as its new managing director for STV Productions. Mortimer will take charge of STV’s production teams in Glasgow and London. His brief is to turn STV into one of the UK’s leading production companies, repositioning the brand to focus on developing returning series for terrestrial and SVOD players across […]
Virgin Media will launch STV’s on-demand service, STV Player, on its set-top boxes for the first time as part of a new deal with Scottish broadcaster. The four-year partnership will also give Scottish Virgin TV customers access to fully regionalised versions of STV in high definition, which they did not have access to previously. Virgin […]
One of Scotland’s leading independent producers, Freedom Scripted Entertainment has signed a co-development and production agreement with BBC studios. Freedom, founded earlier this year by former BBC Drama, World Productions and STV development executive Mike Ellen (right), is based in Glasgow. As part of the deal, BBC Studios will have a first look on distribution […]
STV has laid out its plans for the next three years, which will see the Scottish broadcaster axe its STV2 channel to make room for digital initiatives. The broadcaster hopes that its “three year growth plan” will mean that a third of profits will arrive from outside of linear advertising by the end of 2020. […]
Scottish entertainment producers Andrew Robertson and Henry Imbert have launched Very Nice, an independent production company specialising in developing entertainment formats. Based in Glasgow, Very Nice aims to produce innovative titles across platforms. Robertson was previously creative director at STV, and moved on the Mentorn Media as head of entertainment where he oversaw commissions and […]
Scotland’s STV Productions has found a replacement for specialist factual exec Dan Korn, who left for A+E Networks UK last year. Peter Collins (pictured) has taken up the post of head of specialist factual, more than a year after he joined the production arm of Scottish network STV. News of Korn’s departure emerged last year, […]
New Scottish network STV2 has acquired Irish soap Fair City, Finnish drama Black Widow and UK crime piece Secret State. The deal with Irish pubcaster RTÉ hands STV2 400 episodes of long-running soap Fair City (pictured), which first went out in 1989. RTÉ will also produce a 1x30mins ‘story so far’ doc, which will familiarise […]
Prisons have long been a source of fascination for TV producers – as illustrated by series such as British sitcom Porridge, Australian soap Prisoner Cell Block H and HBO limited series Oz. Right now, though, there are more outstanding prison-themed shows than ever, across both scripted and factual television, reports Andy Fry. Prison might not […]
