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The ITV network has accused BSkyB of trying to overcharge for carriage of ITV and ITV2 on SkyDigital. In the latest salvo in the battle between the terrestrial net and […]

Channel 4 plans to set up a separate division for its pay TV and other noncore businesses in a move to silence critics who complain that the channel, technically a [...]

U.K. TV producer Tiger Aspect is creating an animated version of Bean, the geeky British character portrayed by comedian Rowan Atkinson. The series of 5211-minute shows will be produced in [...]

The British government is battling to keep the 2002 World Cup on free-to-air television, thwarting German media group Kirch's plans to recoup the $1 billion it spent on rights by [...]

CANNES The music biz will have to wait a long time before sales on the Internet match those on the ground, but at least one promise of cyberspace is being [...]

U.K. ONdigital has reached the magic number of 1 million subscribers. As of Jan. 14, the terrestrial pay TV platform -- co-owned by ITV network companies Carlton and Granada -- […]

EMI's Jay Samit is conquering the convergence path with a vengeance. JAY SAMIT MAY BE IN CHARGE OF all things Internet for EMI, but his first career incarnation -- magician [...]

E4 takes on satcaster BSkyB LONDON This could be the week multichannel television comes of age in the U.K. with the Jan. 18 launch of E4, Channel 4's ambitious new [...]

LONDON The battle over BBC's plans to launch digital TV channels is heating up. Seven commercial broadcasters have banded together to fight the pubcaster's decision to change BBC Knowledge and […]

Tweeniemania is sweeping the U.K. and it may not be long before it hits U.S. shores. The life-size puppet stars of the BBC kids TV show "Tweenies" -- Milo, Fizz, […]

U.K. LONDON Granada Intl. has unveiled its new structure following the merger with Itel. Company, the result of Granada Media's acquisition of most of United News & Media's TV assets, [...]

LONDON It can only be right that a band as unlikely as Radiohead is repped by management as improbable as Courtyard Music. Chris Hufford, Bryce Edge and Brian Message handle [...]

Telefonica, now a U.S. force, is courting Yahoo! and AOL. WHEN TELEFONICA launched Terra U.S.A. in Miami last June, it threw a bash that cost a cool $1.5 million. The [...]

The U.K.'s competition regulator is probing Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting over possible anti-competitive practices. The Office of Fair Trading has launched a six-month investigation of the satcaster, in particular [...]

Top pop acts find life at home after Stateside battle L0NDON British pop music used to be the world's great traveler, but these days it is sticking a lot closer [...]

LONDON It's a heady time for multichannel television in the U.K. Pay TV is in about 40% of British homes, in large part thanks to the runaway success of satcaster [...]

The ruling class triumphed on Britain's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Nov. 20 when a cousin of Camilla Parker Bowles -- Prince Charles' better half -- became its first […]

The BBC is dominating the European 'Net sector, but at what cost? AUNTIE BBC MAY HAVE A reputation for propriety but she is accused of being a very naughty girl [...]

U.K. The BBC has announced plans to redevelop Broadcasting House, the pubcaster's art deco headquarters in central London, into a global broadcasting center for TV and radio. The transformation, to [...]

Dawn Airey has been upped to the post of chief exec of Channel 5, replacing David Elstein, who exits with a hefty golden handshake. Airey's appointment, effective immediately, is a [...]

LONDON NTL has pulled out of its pay-per-view rights deal for English Premier League soccer after failing to agree on final terms. The move has stunned the U.K. TV biz […]

Mogul Murdoch is at it again. This time, he wants to be king of the satellite world. For Europeans, getting ahead in digital media increasingly means getting together. Linking up […]

The Euro Web wave may be slow, but the interactive TV business is tres bien IF INTERACTIVE TV IS TELEVISION'S great leap forward, then Europe has the jump on the […]

LONDON It came, they saw, it conquered. Reality formats have long been a staple of U.K. television, but it took Channel 4's 'Big Brother' to prove the power of the [...]

LONDON Marcus Plantin leads a double life. By day, the vet TV exec is director of programs for ITV network station London Weekend Television, Granada Media's biggest broadcasting business. By [...]

LONDON Channel 4 plans to launch three film channels in time for Christmas and bow its general entertainment pay TV channel, E4, mid-January. C4's current pay presence consists of arthouse [...]

LONDON On the eve of the Mipcom TV trade show in Cannes, British TV distributors are scratching their heads over how to better market and sell their shows abroad. Although [...]

LONDON Satcaster British Sky Broadcasting and U.K. cabler NTL have sealed a five-year programming supply deal. The agreement entails NTL carrying all of BSkyB's main TV channels under a new […]

EDINBURGH Greg Dyke gave a straight-up talk at the Edinburgh Television Festival Aug. 25 in which he emphasized programming. In his MacTaggart lecture, which kicks off the annual gathering of [...]

U.K. Granada Creative, Granada Media's programming arm, has sold a second format to the Fox net through reality producer LMNO Prods. Uniquely, the new show, "Boot Camp," which Fox has […]

Britain's Carlton Communications and United News & Media canceled their merger plans July 21, clearing the way for Granada Media to bid for either company, with United the most obvious [...]

LONDON The U.K.'s 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' has yet to produce a millionaire, but there have been two big winners: the ITV network and Celador, the production company [...]

The BBC promised gain from pain July 10 when it announced an additional 900 job cuts to help free up more cash for programming. All told, 1,100 staff are now [...]

LONDON The U.K. government gave the go-ahead to ITV consolidating its ownership July 14, a move that will reshape Britain's largest commercial web. The government's greenlight allows for a marriage [...]

LONDON BBC golden boy David Docherty ankled his post as deputy director of television June 29 to head broadband content at cabler Telewest. The surprise move signals the growing importance […]

LONDON The first rumblings of a seismic shift to U.K. mainstream television have been felt. The BBC signaled in mid-June that it may make its two main TV channels more [...]

LONDON The BBC is increasing its budget this year by an extra 58 million £ ($87 million) -- cash that will notably provide for another hour of 'Walking With Dinosaurs' [...]

BSkyB, ITV, NIL score Premiere League TV rights LONDON There were three winners and one big loser when the auction of TV rights to English Premier League soccer reached its […]

LONDON Pearson Television bought U.K. indie Talkback Prods. for $93 million on June 14 in a move that made good on the company's promise to diversify its programming output from [...]

U.K. LONDON Granada Group is planning to spin off Granada Media into a separate unit, creating a pure media company arguably better placed to be the key player in the […]

U.K. The bids are in and the waiting begins to see who will secure the lucrative TV rights to English Premier League soccer. Brit broadcasters had until May 10 to […]

LONDON International sport is about to get its own version of the Oscars: the annual Laureus Sports Awards, to be first held in Monaco May 25 and starring a who's […]

LONDON Vivendi's acquisition of a 25% stake in satcaster BSkyB has been cleared by the U.K.'s Competition Commission. The move comes as a surprise to some observers. There had been […]

LONDON Yes Television, the video-on-demand online company, has delayed its planned stock market debut because of the collapse of new media share prices. Yes had intended to offer stock worth [...]

Granada Media and Discovery Communications have announced a $35 million, three-year alliance to co-produce history, adventure and science programming, making this the first formal pact between the companies. Plan is […]

Overseas TV congloms prompt both Euro-phoria and phobia As if it didn't have enough woes, Hollywood now finds itself staring down a new beast: a bigger, bolder and cashed-up European […]

CANNES Disney plans to dramatically increase its TV channel presence in Europe by replacing its single feeds with three or four channels, beginning in the U.K., Germany and France. The [...]

Eyre eyes States after merger with CLT/Ufa CANNES Having made no secret of its plan to quickly ramp up its presence in the U.S., the newly hitched Pearson TelevisionCLT/Ufa is [...]

LONDON The BBC will pump more money into programming and give more power to program makers under the grand plan unveiled April 3 by incoming director general Greg Dyke. Dyke's […]

LONDON With multichannel television eroding ratings, Britain's major broadcasters are becoming increasingly possessive. The days of established broadcasters sharing U.S. programming -- like BSkyB and the BBC both having "The […]