UKTV


UKTV orders five broadcast pilots

UKTV will show five new factual entertainment pilots that it has commissioned for its Watch channel. The UK digital channel operator ordered the batch of pilots for its‘Formats Lab’ strand and said that it expects to take one to series. UKTV asked UK indies to pitch innovative fact-ent pilots and has now greenlit Seven Envelopes, […]

UKTV takes The Strain with vampire deal

UKTV has acquired upcoming vampire drama The Strain from Fox. The thirteen-part original series based upon the vampire book series by Guillermo del Toro and follows a doctor heading up a disease control unit as a mysterious virus breaks out, infecting people with an ancient strain of vampirism. It was commissioned by Fox-owned cable channel […]

Hasselhoff goes Hoff the Record on Dave

Cult icon David Hasselhoff has landed a 6x30mins ‘mockumentary’ comedy series at UK digital channel Dave. Hoff the Record will be a semi-improvised comedy from Me & You Productions (An Idiot Abroad) shot in documentary style similar to HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. It will chart the life of a fictional version of Hasselhoff, known to […]

Scripps ‘offers BBCWW £500m for UKTV’

Scripps Networks International has reportedly offered the BBC as much as £500 million (US$849.2 million) to buy the latter’s commercial arm out of their joint venture channels operator, UKTV. A deal would give it full control of 10 channels such as Dave, Watch, Yesterday and Gold. UK newspaper The Guardian reports Scripps has made “multiple […]

UKTV presses Play with first digital-only service

UK multichannel operator UKTV is launching its first direct-to-consumer digital service this summer. UKTV Play will offer programming from UKTV channels such as Dave and Watch as “familiar and intuitive” curated collections, by topic, box sets and ‘staff picks’, as well advance previews of upcoming shows. Features include swipe channel selection, stop-and-resume viewing, predictive search, […]

North, Wills upped, Hornsey out in UKTV restructure

Multichannel operator UKTV has restructured its top-level team in a move that sees the departures of Clare Laycock and Steve Hornsey. Really, Home and Good Food general manager Laycock is moving to Discovery Networks UK and Ireland, where she will be channel head for its flagship entertainment network TLC, while Hornsey’s role as GM of […]

2014 LA Screenings: Catherine Mackin, UKTV

As buyers flock to Los Angeles for the May Screenings, TBI speaks with key players about what’s on their 2014 shopping list What slots are there for US shows on your channels? We have 10 channels, several of which we acquire first-run content for from the studios. However, at the LA screenings we are predominately […]

UKTV adds ex-BBC comedy commissioner

UK broadcaster UKTV has hired former BBC comedy commissioner Simon Lupton to become its commissioning editor, entertainment, as part of a push into scripted. His appointment comes after Richard Watsham was promoted to director of commissioning following Jane Rogerson’s exit last year. Luton will report into Watsham, who is charged with increasing the BBC Worldwide […]

News brief: UKTV prebuys Raiders of the Lost Art

UK digital channel operator UKTV has acquired upcoming art theft series Raiders of the Lost Art. The six-part show is produced by UK indie 3DD and tells the story of how treasured objects have been stolen. UKTV will put it out on its factual channel Yesterday. Adrian Wills, the channel’s general manager said: “It is […]

UKTV ups Watsham after Rogerson exit

British multi-channel broadcaster UKTV has promoted Richard Watsham to become director of commissioning following former incumbent Jane Rogerson’s exit. Watsham takes responsibility for UKTV’s slate of original programmes, effective immediately, after being promoted from senior commissioning editor. He has worked at UKTV since 2011 and is credited with series such as Watch’s Dynamo: Magician Impossible, […]

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