ITV

Tag: BBC

  • BBC, HBO to co-produce a crime thriller

    BBC, HBO to co-produce a crime thriller

    MUMBAI: The BBC and HBO have started co-production on the crime thriller Five Days.
    Five Days tracks five days following the abduction of an appealing and photogenic young mother, Leanne.

    This five-part drama serial stars Nikki Amuka-Bird, Hugh Bonneville and Charlie Creed-Miles. The story begins one, hot summer day when Leanne is taking her two young children to visit her grandfather.

    She stops to buy flowers at a motorway lay-by but then inexplicably vanishes, leaving her two small children waiting in her car, lost and far from home.

    They set off to find her only to go missing themselves. Their ordeal is captured on CCTV cameras and before long the family’s heart-stopping trauma is not only a complex police investigation but a major news story. As each episode unravels it becomes clear that nobody is quite as they seem.

    Producer Paul Rutman says, “Five Days is a gripping, multi-stranded story about the kind of fascinating crime which holds the front pages of our national newspapers and which terrifies and obsesses us in a compulsion to know more.”

    BBC controller, drama commissioning Jane Tranter said, “It is a privilege to be making such a major piece of drama from the brilliant Gwyneth Hughes, and we are delighted to be collaborating once again with HBO, continuing our strong creative relationship which has seen us working together on many projects, most recently Tsunami: The Aftermath and Rome.”

  • B’cast Bill likely to skip domestic content clause for English movie channels

    B’cast Bill likely to skip domestic content clause for English movie channels

    NEW DELHI: The government is likely to exempt English movie channels from sourcing 15 per cent of their total weekly programming from India.

    “We realize that not enough of English movies are made in India and mandating such sourcing of films from India for English movie channels would be difficult,” an official of the information and broadcasting ministry has told Indiantelevision.com.

    This would mean that the likes of Star Movies, HBO, Zee Studio, MGM and TCM (the last two are available on Dish TV’s DTH service) can breathe easy.

    The draft Broadcasting Bill 2006 had said that all TV channels should source from India 15 per cent of their total content broadcast every week.

    For Indian channels, dishing out primarily Indian entertainment programmes, this clause in the draft Bill should not cause much of a problem, but for foreign news and kids channels (Cartoon Network, BBC, Disney, etc) and niche ones like Discovery Travel and Living, Animax, it would mean reworking programming line ups.

    Channels like Animax, Disney, Toon Disney, Cartoon Network and Pogo would have to make more programmes in India or source them from here, which is not done up to the proposed 15 per cent.

    The government official explained that the proposed clause, which is based on similar laws elsewhere in the world, was more aimed towards addressing the concerns of the Indian animation industry.

    A section of the growing Indian animation industry, led by some big companies, had petitioned the government some months ago that foreign channels, especially kids’, should be directed to source a certain quantum of their programming from India.

    However, the government doesn’t propose to specify the quality of sourced programmes as and when the Broadcast Bill is enacted into a law. “That’s up to a respective channel to decide,” the official said.

    Even foreign news channels like BBC, CNN and Euro News need not worry unnecessarily.

    The proposed 15 per cent local programming does not mean live news, as had been envisaged buy some channels.

    It could be in the form of even current affairs pro

  • Ric Bailey is the BBC’s new political adviser

    Ric Bailey is the BBC’s new political adviser

    MUMBAI: Ric Bailey has been appointed as the UK pubcaster BBC’s chief political adviser. He will leave his post as deputy head of political programmes to take over the role from David Jordan, who became BBC controller of editorial policy in December 2005.

    Bailey has been the executive editor for Question Time for the past six years, overseeing programmes such as the leaders’ election special and editions from China, Russia, the Middle East, the United States and across the UK.

    He also developed and led the Schools Question Time Challenge project, a citizenship initiative which saw the first member of the public on the panel of Question Time earlier this month.

  • Star World ramps up programming next month

    Star World ramps up programming next month

    MUMBAI: English general entertainment channel Star World has announced a slew of shows that it hopes will keep viewers tuning in for more.

    They run the gamut from a hit sitcom to a family drama.

    Kicking things off on 3 August 2006 is The Office. This is the US broadcaster NBC’s version of BBC’s show im the UK. For the uninitiated, the show looks at the humdrum everyday goings-on in a typical nine-to-five workplace, straight out of the ‘Dilbert’ school of work ethics. The Office is a mockumentary of the office Dunder-Mifflin, a paper product company.

    The show has won praise form the characters and the many mini-plots. As the camera follows the Dunder-Mifflin staff around, viewers are treated to a plethora of stories and character backgrounds. There’s Michael Scott, the manager/dense buffoon who may not be diabolical, but is certainly oblivious to what’s going on around him. There’s Pam, the permanently-engaged sweetheart receptionist who’s with a habitual jerk who is constantly putting off their wedding date.

    There’s also Jim, the witty and charming nice guy who harbors a secret crush for Pam despite her engagement. Dwight meanwhile is somewhat nerdy, Lord of the Rings obsessed, and comically abrasive/intrusive to the point that no one takes him seriously. Steve Carrell won a Golden Globe Award this year for his portrayal of Scott.

    Those in the mood for family drama can check out Sons and Daughters from 24 August. The zany and slightly troubled members of a family try to make it through life as comedy ensues. In the center of the mess is Cameron (Fred Goss), who is happily married to second wife Liz (Gillian Vigman), with three children.

    Cameron’s teenage son from his first marriage has officially moved in-and has a little-well, a lot-of trouble becoming comfortable in the new environment. Cameron’s sister Sharon (Alison Quinn) seems to have the perfect life-although her husband, Don (Jerry Lambert), are both in denial about their sex-less marriage. Then there’s Jenna (Amanda Walsh), the gorgeous little half-sister who had her life upturned when she became a single mother. Jenna doesn’t really know what’s good for her.

    She always goes for the bad boys like Tommy White (Greg Pitts), while the nice guys like Wylie Blake (Desmond Harrington) love her. Equally problem-filled Colleen (Dee Wallace Stone) and Wendal (Max Gail), the parents of the siblings, try to keep their family in order somehow. Colleen, though, is admittedly uptight and impulsively judgmental. Even though they’re all a little nuts, the Halbert family hangs in there and keeps it all together.

    The supernatural thriller Ghost Whisperer kicks off on 29 August. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays newlywed Melinda Gordon. She communicates with earthbound spirits – ghosts who cling to the living because they have unfinished business which prevents them from moving beyond the familiar plane of existence we call life. Inspired in part by the work of famed medium James Van Praagh and Mary Ann Winkowski, a real life communicator to spirits, Ghost Whisperer explores the spiritual side of life and death.

    Actor Charlie Sheen saw his acting career being revived with the comedy Two And A Half Men. This kicks off on 31 August. Sheen and Jon Cryer star along with young Angus T. Jones as three males from two generations, each learning what it really means to be a man. Charlie’s casual Malibu lifestyle is interrupted when his tightly wound brother, Alan, who’s facing a divorce, and Alan’s son, Jake, come to stay with him. Together, these two and a half men confront the challenges of growing up-finally.

  • BBC using computer phone technology to boost quality of radio journalism

    BBC using computer phone technology to boost quality of radio journalism

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC is counting on a pocket computer phone is set to revolutionise newsrooms and newsgathering across BBC Local Radio in Britain.

    Earlier this year BBC Radio Lincolnshire linked up with the Maastricht-based Technica del Arte to transform a pocket PC phone, the XDA, into a professional recording device capable of sending high quality sound down a mobile phone line or from a wi-fi spot.

    After exhaustive testing by Radio Lincolnshire staff for the past six months the pilot scheme has been judged so successful that it is to be rolled out to all BBC radio stations across the UK.

    It has also been shortlisted for an international IBC Innovation Award, to be judged at a ceremony in Amsterdam in September.

    BBC controller of English Regions Andy Griffee said, “This new technology means that journalists are totally self-contained. They no longer need to waste time travelling to and from base – they can prepare and broadcast quality radio direct from the scene of the story without going anywhere near a studio, ISDN line or mobile transmitter. This has revolutionised newsrooms and newsgathering in Lincolnshire, and will do the same across the country.”

    The phone can also send pictures for use on web sites and ‘first break’ video footage for television. The BBC says that the technology means that its journalists now spend less time in the office and more time out in the field producing an average of 50 per cent more audio than using conventional recording devices.

    Another benefit is that everyone has a phone with them at all times – therefore there is potentially much quicker/better response and coverage of any major stories which break.

  • BBC reorganises to focus on digital future

    BBC reorganises to focus on digital future

    MUMBAI: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced organisational changes to meet the challenges and opportunities of its Creative Future vision, placing future media & technology at the heart of its strategy. Launched in April 2006, the changes have been made following consultation with senior managers across the BBC.

    Creative Future is designed to deliver more value to audiences. These reforms are built on the vision that the best content should be made available on every platform at the audience’s convenience and they will simplify how programme ideas – both from in-house and independent producers – move from original concept to audiences.

    The changes, due to be fully operational by April 2007, will enable 360 degree commissioning and production and ensure creative coherence and editorial leadership across all platforms and media.

    They will also streamline the way funding flows across the organisation, bringing in-house production together under a single head, while reinforcing commitments made to the independent production sector through the Window of Creative Competition, informs an official release.

    BBC director general Mark Thompson told staff across the organisation: “Today is about making Creative Future a reality. It’s about how we can make the BBC the most creative organisation in the world, delivering content that our audiences will simply love.

    “We need a BBC ready for digital and for 360 degree multi-platform content creation, which brings different kinds of creativity together – in technology as well as content – to deliver what we need in this converging world. And we need a simpler, more open BBC with the licence-fee flowing down simple, direct lines to the right people, a simpler structure, clearer responsibilities and fewer layers.”

    Thompson stressed it was not about more large scale efficiencies and redundancies, but about making the BBC more creative and efficient. A three year value for money efficiency programme is already underway to deliver savings of £355m a year by 2008 to reinvest in to content.

    The new organisation chart places marketing communications and audiences at its centre, which will be led by Tim Davie, is designated as a creative division, putting audiences at the heart of the BBC and working ever closer with content areas and future Media & Technology to bring audience insights to the creative process.

    A new future media and technology division (FM&T) will be led by Ashley Highfield and will concentrate on emerging technologies, playing a leading role in finding and developing new ways for audiences to find and use content. Technology resources will be centralised and prioritised in FM&T and three new FM&T controllers will be based in the three main content areas – Journalism, BBC Vision and Audio and Music.

    FM&T will manage all new media platforms and gateways like bbc.co.uk, the emerging i-player and web 2.0, as well as metadata, search and navigation and BBC Information & Archives which is vital to opening up the BBC’s archives.

    The multi-media journalism group, led by Deputy Director-General Mark Byford, will now also include BBC Sport along with BBC News, Global News and Nations & Regions.

    The creation of an Audio & Music group, led by Jenny Abramsky, will deliver not just network radio but audio content for all platforms from on-demand in the home to podcasts and mobile phones. This group will also lead on music across all media, including TV, for the whole BBC, informs the release.

    BBC Television, Factual & Learning and Drama, Entertainment & Children’s come together in a new group, BBC Vision, led by Jana Bennett.

    This group will be responsible for in-house multimedia production, commissioning and audio visual services, including the TV channel portfolio, and digital services like High Definition and Interactive.

    Multimedia, 360 degree production, under a single Production Head, will be more closely aligned to – while still physically separate from – the 360 degree commissioning teams. Commissioning will be grouped under four controllers of: Fiction (drama, comedy, BBC Film and programme acquisitions), Entertainment, Knowledge (including all factual and Learning) and Children’s.

    Funding for multimedia content provision will move to the new vision and audio & music groups, allowing 360 degree commissioning and a one stop shop for all producers, including independents.

    The Production Head for BBC Vision, reporting directly to Jana Bennett, will also have an overview of network production outside London through the controller of network production Anne Morrison.

    BBC creative director Alan Yentob will ensure that the Creative Future recommendations are implemented across all content and services. He will chair both the Creative Training Board and Creative Network as well as chairing the board of BBC Films and a new Arts Network which will pull together arts programme-makers from across the BBC. He also continues to lead BBC Talent and to present Imagine.

    The Window of Creative Competition (WOCC). Clear safeguards are in place to build confidence in commissioning and the WOCC now that production and commissioning are in the same BBC Vision group.

    There will be a new commissioning compliance role in BBC Operations with a direct line to the director general and the new BBC Trust will also keep the changes under review to ensure they do not prejudice the WOCC.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith will concentrate on his ambitious development strategy for Worldwide, on course to treble profits, and to lead the sale BBC Resources Ltd in 2007. Over the next six months he will relinquish all responsibilities to the public service side of the BBC.

    Caroline Thomson, currently BBC director of strategy, becomes COO for the BBC, with overall responsibility for strategy, policy, distribution, property, legal and business continuity, in a new BBC Operations division.

    The reorganisation does not affect BBC Finance, led by Zarin Patel, which is already undergoing transformational change. Procurement will however, move into Finance.

    BBC People already has a major change programme underway and is largely unaffected by the reorganisation. The new director of BBC People, Steve Kelly, joins the BBC from BT in the near future.

  • BBC DG Thompson & Apple’s Jobs top UK’s media power list

    BBC DG Thompson & Apple’s Jobs top UK’s media power list

    MUMBAI: BBC DG Mark Thompson has topped the Guardian’s list of the most powerful figures in the UK media once again.

    Three people in the top 10 come from technology companies, including Apple head Steve Jobs who is at number two. Jobs rises four places in this year’s list, keeping News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch in the third spot for the second year in a row.

    The Guardian notes that Thompson has recently been in the news for his £619,000 salary and also for his radical restructuring of the corporation. This year’s list was dominated by the digital media revolution. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are in fourth place.

    As far as Google is concerned Guardian notes, “So ubiquitous has Google become that it is hard to imagine what we ever did without it. The ultimate convenience research tool, its founders Brin and Page are in the midst of transforming it from a search engine into a technology giant.”

    Rising from 19 to five on the list is Channel 4’s CEO Andy Duncan, who the paper notes, “ has overseen an unprecedented year of growth and ambition”.

    Jonathan Ross who hosts film shows for the BBC is at number 19.

  • BBC’s new show to focus on the miracles of Jesus

    BBC’s new show to focus on the miracles of Jesus

    MUMBAI: Bringing the dead back to life, walking on water and calming storms with a single word! UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that Jesus’ acts will be recreated in a new series, The Miracles of Jesus presented by Rageh Omaar. The show kicks off on BBC One 30 July 2006.

    Whether or not people today believe in miracles, 2,000 years ago, friend and foe alike believed that Jesus could work miracles. This series reveals that the miracles were seen as subversive signs giving vital clues to Jesus’ identity.

    Many of the miracles would have prompted Jesus’ followers to hail Him as the great prophet foretold by the scriptures. But, surprisingly, many other miracles would have encouraged some Jews to hail Jesus as a leader in the mould of Moses and Joshua.

    In this three-part series, Rageh Omaar embarks on a journey to find out what the miracles reveal about Jesus and who people at the time believed Jesus really was. Omaar travels around the Sea of Galilee to visit places linked with the miracles of Jesus.

    In the first episode the raising of the widow’s son, the feeding of the 5,000, walking on water and turning water into wine are recreated to bring the miracles to life. Omaar explores the similarities between Jesus’ miracles and similar feats performed by the prophet Elijah; Moses, the hero of the Exodus, and Joshua the general who led the Jews to the Promised Land. The series draws on evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Jewish writings in existence, to get inside the minds of Jesus’ contemporaries.

    In many of His miracles, Jesus seemed to be making the dangerous claim that He possessed divine authority. His actions would have astonished first-century Jews.

  • BBC appoints Sanjeev Srivastava as BBC Hindi service India editor

    BBC appoints Sanjeev Srivastava as BBC Hindi service India editor

    MUMBAI:The Hindi Service of the BBC World Service broadcasts — BBC Hindi has appointed Sanjeev Srivastava as India editor, heading the radio and online operations in India.

    Srivastava moves from his current post as the BBC’s India correspondent to take up his new role in August 2006.

    As India editor, Srivastava will be responsible for all BBC Hindi output generated from India across all platforms of delivery, including FM, short wave and online. Based in Delhi, he will be leading a team of experienced broadcast and online journalists on all BBC Hindi editorial initiatives in India.

    BBC Hindi India editor Sanjeev Srivastava

    According to an official release, Srivastava has been reporting from India for the BBC, in a variety of roles, for over 12 years. He started his broadcasting career in 1994 when he joined the BBC Hindi service in London. He launched the BBC’s first Mumbai bureau, reporting across BBC television and radio in English, Hindi and Urdu. Then, following a stint as India business and western India correspondent, he joined the BBC’s South Asia Bureau in Delhi in March 2003 as India correspondent. Prior to the BBC, he worked in print journalism including The Times of India and The Indian Express.

    Srivastava has been exclusively reporting on the life of modern day India over the last two decades. He has covered social, economic and political issues, such as the successive general elections, earthquakes in Gujarat and Kashmir and the bird-flu outbreak in Gujarat. He has also tracked India’s fast changing place in the global order, geo-political and economic, as well as the country’s foreign policy, particularly Delhi’s relations with its South Asian neighbours, China, US and Europe. In addition, he has reported extensively on India-Pakistan relations, the ongoing peace initiative and Kashmir.

    BBC Hindi service head Achala Sharma says: “India is an important market for the BBC – we are the leading international broadcaster. Our Hindi radio audience has grown by nearly five million in recent years and we know from our relationship with listeners that our new programming is popular. But we cannot afford to be complacent. India is changing fast and news is a competitive business. I am confident that in Sanjeev Srivastava we have someone with the skills, experience and vision to provide excellent editorial leadership. He is top grade BBC news journalist with an impressive track record and passion for reporting India.”

    Commenting on his new role, Srivastava adds: “The BBC stands for quality journalism people can trust. Over 15 million listeners trust BBC Hindi to serve their needs with a range of news programmes. I look forward to building on that trust and expanding our Hindi audience with new editorial initiatives, which will engage them, inform them and entertain. These are exciting times in Indian media, and I relish the opportunity to play a role at this important time.”

  • BBC Governors report points out to achieving of increased efficiency

    BBC Governors report points out to achieving of increased efficiency

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s board of Governors has published the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) for 2005/2006. It records further progress in delivering an efficient BBC focussed on providing licence fee payers with quality content across all platforms.

    BBC chairman Michael Grade noted that this was the last ARA from the Board of Governors who will be replaced by the BBC Trust at the end of the year. The chairman singled out increased efficiency as a key achievement, but noted also that further work was necessary.

    “The challenging first year target of £105 million cash savings has been met. This is a considerable achievement but, the pressure is still on. The Governors have prescribed very clear measures to ensure the year two target of an additional £112 million of cash savings is also delivered, ensuring the continuing cash savings target of £355 million annually is met from 2007/2008.

    “These savings will release the funds that are necessary to address audience expectations of quality content. But achieving the savings will require transformational change in ways of working, and not just the reduction in headcount that is already being implemented.”

    Grade went on to highlight improved performance that was in response to the concerns of licence fee payers and linked to the savings already achieved. “Last year, as a direct result of consultation with the public, the Governors requested a reduction in repeats in peak-time on BBC ONE. These have fallen from 9.7 per cent to 8.9 per cent and a new target of five per cent to be met by 2008/09 has been set.

    “The BBC’s distinctiveness from the commercial sector must be evident in a willingness to take creative risks – even if that means the inevitable occasional failure.

    “But it also requires the confidence to end successful programmes that have reached the end of their natural creative life, to create space for the next round of innovation. CBBC and CBeebies demonstrated particular evidence of this last year, having the courage to discontinue some of their most acclaimed titles that could have been damaged if continued, to make way for new ideas and programmes.

    “On behalf of audiences – who have identified tired formats and worn programming as indicators of poor quality – we will be looking for more evidence of creative renewal in the year ahead, and expect BBC ONE to make a particular effort in its early evening schedule. Overall, the Governors assess the BBC to have had a better year creatively and are pleased that total BBC reach to audiences is broadly stable.”

    He noted that two years ago, together with the Director-General, he launched Building Public Value, a prospectus for radical change at the BBC. At that time a new system of governance that would place the interests of licence fee payers was promised and not the interests of BBC management, at the very heart of the Board’s remit.

    “The Governors demanded that the BBC should become more efficient, and that the editorial teams should concentrate on providing a quality of content that is distinctive from what is provided by the commercial sector. We asked for renewed efforts by the BBC’s commercial businesses, and set a target for Worldwide of doubling its profits in two years.

    “We asked the BBC to prepare for the next Charter period by ensuring its services will be universally available to all licence fee payers. At the same time we also made clear that the BBC could not, and should not, attempt to do everything, and that it must work constructively alongside the rest of the industry in preparation for the digital future.”

    Commenting on the BBC’s overall performance, BBC DG Mark Thompson said, “The BBC is going through huge change, moving from traditional linear broadcasting to the challenging and exciting world of interactive, on-demand digital media. It means the BBC’s relationship with audiences is also constantly changing.

    “Over the last year audiences have been telling us what they love and value from the BBC. There was huge appreciation for innovative drama and adaptations like Bleak House, Life on Mars and Doctor Who, to Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, Martin Scorsese’s Dylan epic No Direction Home, Catherine Tate and Facing the Truth.

    “And on radio The Raj Quartet, the dramatisation of Paul Scott’s novel about India in the 1940s, was a creative highlight; meanwhile, The Archers, the world’s longest running radio drama, marked its 55th anniversary. Our website continues to set new records for reach – now over 15.3 million a month – and our radio portfolio continues to carve its distinctive path.

    “Evidence of the changing nature of our relationship with audiences came on 7 July last year when audiences used bbc.co.uk to share their own pictures and experiences of the London bombings. Radio 3’s Beethoven Experience and Bach Christmas and our ongoing podcasting trials show a real appetite for different ways of accessing, using and enjoying the BBC’s content. New investment in content is coming through the value-for-money savings highlighted in this year’s report.

    “We have also launched our Creative Future content vision for the on-demand world. The next challenge is to bring about transformational change within the BBC to achieve that vision, to simplify how we bring the best creative ideas to our audiences and deliver the public purposes, including leading digital switchover, which have been laid down for us for the next Charter.”