Bafta nominated Cal Turner is to join Channel 4’s Factual Entertainment department as commissioning editor. Turner, who joins from Naked has worked across some of the most popular British factual entertainment formats from The Apprentice and Snowflake Mountain, to Grand Designs and 60 Days with Ed Stafford. Working to Head of Factual Entertainment, Alf Lawrie, Turner […]
In addition to early comment on the publication of the government’s proposals from ITV and the chair of the DCMS committee, a range of broadcasters and bodies have issued their initial reactions. “We’re pleased to see the government taking forward many of our recommendations, particularly around securing prominence for on-demand public service content,” commented broadcast […]
Sky Sports has announced a multi-year broadcast partnership with W Series, the international single-seater motor racing championship for women. W Series will include ten races across eight Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends in 2022, and Sky Sports will broadcast live coverage of every qualifying and race session. The three-year partnership – through to the end […]
Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4, has mounted a strong defence of the broadcaster following the UK government’s announcement that it plans to privatise the channel, describing it as “a thriving national asset with a business model that has never been in better health”. Writing for The Sunday Times online, Mahon says the reaction […]
Birmingham City FC Captain Troy Deeney’s high profile campaign to make the teaching of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories and experiences mandatory in the school curriculum will be featured in a new sixty-minute documentary to be aired next month on Channel 4 and produced by SBX Studios. Frustrated by the lack of diversity taught […]
Critics from within the UK TV industry have described the UK government’s plans to proceed with the privatisation of Channel 4 as ill-informed, ideological rather than logical (fuelled by the current government’s dislike of Channel 4’s robustly independent news coverage), and as “a solution in search of a problem”, But if it does go ahead, […]
The Vampire Diaries spin-off series, The Originals, has arrived on the All 4 streaming service. Running for five seasons, the series centres on the original vampire family and the dangerous vampire/werewolf hybrid, Klaus, who returns to the magical melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans – a town he helped build centuries […]
It has emerged that the UK government intends to proceed with the privatisation of publicly-owned commercial PSB Channel 4, having suggested in May 2021 that such a move was “on the table”. The news comes as Sir Ian Cheshire has been named as incoming Chair of the broadcaster. With the UK parliament in recess for […]
The UK government is pressing ahead with privatising Channel 4, though it is by no means guaranteed success as opposition is widespread, not least on its own benches. The case for, as put forward by the DCMS, is that the broadcaster needs to be private to compete better with Netflix, Prime etc. For example, a […]
UK telecoms and media regulator Ofcom has confirmed the appointment of Sir Ian Cheshire as the next Chair of commercial PSB Channel 4. He will join the broadcaster’s Board on April 11th 2022, succeeding the interim Chair Dawn Airey. Cheshire was Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc from January 2008 to early 2015. Before that […]