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While it is a difficult time for the worldwide music industry, the U.K. market is holding its own. Domestic acts as wide ranging as avant-garde rockers Radiohead, cartoon funksters Gorillaz, [...]

Britain's multichannel TV market is one of the most mature in the world, but it's also ripe for a shake-out that will likely see the loss of a number of [...]

Bob the Builder could be the most versatile star in U.K. showbiz. The animated character with the can-do attitude from indie kidvidder Hit Entertainment has spread his talents far and [...]

LONDON Broadcaster ITV will stay with ITN when it awards its next news contract. The decision leaves Channel 3 News -- a rival consortium set up by satcaster BSkyB, CBS [...]

Woody Allen says terrorism and the events of Sept. 11 are likely to be taboo to Hollywood but 'fair game' to indie filmmakers. Speaking at the National Film Theater in [...]

LONDON It is hard to believe that anyone does not know about the terrorist attacks in the U.S., but it has emerged that "Big Brother" producers in Denmark, Belgium and […]

LONDON It is early days for assessing how the business of entertainment in Europe will be impacted. The knee-jerk reaction that saw entertainment and media stock prices plunge 10%, 20%, […]

LONDON BSkyB is in talks to acquire a stake in commercial broadcaster Channel 5, giving the satcaster a long-sought foothold in U.K. mainstream television. Terrestrial is co-owned by RTL Group […]

LONDON Pubcaster Channel 4 has been ordered to apologize on air for 'Brass Eye Special,' comedian Chris Morris' spoof TV show that outraged many British viewers with its satire of [...]

Channel 4 was ordered Sept. 6 to apologize on the air for 'Brass Eye Special,' comedian Chris Morris's satirical spoof of the U.K. media's obsession with child abuse. It's the [...]

LONDON The BBC is plotting to protect its empire in the digital age by invading territory already occupied by its commercial rivals. The U.K. government is expected to give a [...]

The BBC's commercial rivals are threatening legal action following reports that the U.K. government is about to greenlight the pubcaster's digital TV expansion. The long-delayed decision on the creation of [...]

LONDON TV and film industry veteran Michael Grade and heavyweight TV journalist David Dimbleby are reportedly in the running to become the next chairman of the BBC. Grade, the former [...]

LONDON If there is a sequel to 'Planet of the Apes,' Tim Burton is very unlikely to be at the helm. In a profile published in the U.K.'s Independent newspaper [...]

L0ND0N Two bids to supply news to ITV were submitted July 31, the first time in 46 years ITN has had a rival for the contract. The challenger, consortium Channel […]

Pay TV is continuing to cut into the time British viewers spend watching terrestrial television. According to new statistics from the Institute of Practioners in Advertising, U.K. viewers watched the […]

U.K. pay-per-view outfit Digital Broadcasting Co. has shuttered due to lack of funds despite big-name backers including News Corp., Pearson and Deutsche Bank. DBC offered arthouse fare, Bollywood movies and […]

The BBC plans to nibble back spending on free snacks in staff meetings to cut costs. The move by the pubcaster's director general, Greg Dyke, is likely to exasperate workers [...]

When ABC execs chose Coldplay's 'Yellow' as the score to the web's ad campaign last December, they probably weren't aware that their new corporate anthem was inspired in part by [...]

LONDON The BBC nixed a partial sell-off of BBC Worldwide, the pubcaster's commercial arm, July 17. The decision was part of a review of the division that had been delayed […]

British cable operators NTL and Telewest saw their already depressed share prices plunge to new lows last week as investors panicked on dire forecasts for the Euro cable industry. The [...]

ITV Sport Channel has sealed a carriage deal with U.K. cable operator NTL, extending its reach to 3 million homes. The channel, which launches Aug. 11, is also in negotiations [...]

ITV will be renamed ITV1 later this year as part of the network's larger rebranding strategy. The U.K.'s biggest commercial web is trying to reposition itself as a multichannel player. […]

LONDON Former Polygram Film Intl. prexy Aline Perry has been named chief exec of U.K. film sales house the Sales Co. Perry replaces acting chief exec Jane Wright, who is [...]

BSkyB is pulling the plug on Sky Pictures, the satcaster's film production division. The news emerged June 8, only a day after Sky Pictures announced a two-year partnership with Pathe [...]

LONDON Channel 5 has agreed to a 14 million £ ($20 million) feature film programming deal with Columbia TriStar Intl. Television, including the U.K. terrestrial debuts of 'Erin Brockovich,' 'Charlie's [...]

LONDON BSkyB has signed more than 5 million digital TV subscribers, 95% of the satcaster's direct-to-home customer base and well ahead of the competition. But the drive into digital continues [...]

Cult terrestrial station Channel 4 has posted record sales of 716 million [pounds sterling] ($1 billion) for 2000, up 12%. Profits were down 34% to $31 million due to new […]

David Liddiment, ITV's director of programs, will give the prestigious MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Intl. Television Festival this year. The address, delivered by BBC director general Greg Dyke last […]

After twice pinning its aspirations for growth on ill-fated merger pacts. EMI Music again faces the future as a solo player. But top execs at the venerable British label group, [...]

LONDON BSkyB is poised to pinkslip an unspecified number of its 200 staffers in its new media division, including its director, John Swingewood. Swingewood joined BSkyB in October 1999. His [...]

Carlton Communications and Granada Media will integrate struggling pay TV platform ONdigital into the ITV network to create a better competitor to satcaster BSkyB. ONdigital, co-owned by Carlton and Granada, [...]

LONDON The BBC leads the pack in the main Categories of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts TV awards with 48 nominations, more than the ITV network and […]

MTV Networks is to buy Dutch media group Wegener's 93% share in Benelux music TV web the Music Factory (TMF) for an undisclosed sum. The deal is MTV's first international [...]

ITV network companies Carlton and Granada are cutting the 300 million £ ($435 million) annual budget spent on driving up subscriptions and subsidizing set-top boxes for their digital terrestrial TV [...]

The U.S. contingent at Mip TV, the annual Cannes mart, took on the world. Twentieth Century Fox TV Distribution announced a multiyear output deal with Antenna TV, Greece's terrestrial web, [...]

BBC Worldwide, the British pubcaster's commercial division, announced it had pre-sold 'The Lost World,' a co-production with A&E based on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic adventure tale, to RTL Germany, France's [...]

Discovery Networks Europe is partnering with Italy's Mediatrade to co-produce seven hourlong docus. The productions, announced April 4 and to be funded 50-50, extend Discovery's existing relationship with Media-trade, the [...]

Recession, strike threat cramp style on Croisette A new reality show starring the international TV biz hit Mip last week: It featured global economic slowdown, broadcasters on tighter budgets and [...]

The U.K. television market was worth 9 billion £ ($13 billion) in 2000, roughly double its 1995 value. New figures from the ITC, Britain's commercial TV regulator, reveal that $5 [...]

Europe's SES in talks to buy $5 bil GE bird ops LONDON Societe Europeene des Satellites, the parent of Europe's Astra satellite system, is close to buying General Electric's satellite [...]

Europe roars as Kirch ups World Cup rights price LONDON Negotiating TV rights to World Cup soccer, known as the beautiful game, has become an ugly business. The international crown […]

LONDON Forget the hype, the best in new media hails from an old medium -- television. The humble box is proving the gateway to the future at a time when [...]

Media group Pearson has posted a 17% drop in pre-tax profits, the result of heavy investment in new media. For the year ended Dec. 31, the conglom, one of the [...]

LONDON Rupert Gavin, BBC Worldwide's chief exec, would like it known that he is not at war with his boss, BBC director general Greg Dyke even though Dyke wants to [...]

Dealmaker extraordinaire John Malone looks poised to become the European cable industry's great. liberator. The Liberty Media mogul who built his Tele-Communications Inc. into one of the biggest U.S. cable […]

The Web is finally finding its way to Eastern Europe. And the potential is staggering. IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE new-media companies in Eastern Europe catch up to [...]

`Popstars' soars to Blighty ratings charts top LONDON The first big hit of the year on U.K. television is 'Popstars,' proving the reality format still has steam in the British [...]

U.K. Overseas TV rights to English Premier League soccer have been sold to a consortium of News Corp., France's Canal Plus, Trans World Intl. and sports marketing group Octagon for [...]