UKTV sells homegrown commiions to Foxtel and BBC Worldwide

3 April 2014 UKTV, which boasts a multi-award winning portfolio of ten TV channels, has sold dozens of hours of its popular programming directly to Foxtel and BBC Worldwide's BBC Lifestyle channel, marking a significant step forward in the network's international sales strategy.

The deals were negotiated by UKTV's Head of Programme Distribution, Jonathan Newman, who last year announced the company's move into direct sales, following interest from broadcasters for presale deals and acquisitions of original UKTV content.

Newman said

During the past 12 months UKTV has been in conversation with a wide variety of overseas broadcasters about its past, current and future commissioned content. The fact there's so much interest in our programming is testament to its breadth and depth of audience appeal. UKTV is fast becoming internationally renowned for originating popular, high-quality content and these new deals are a demonstration of that.

In its deal with Foxtel, UKTV has sold rights to The Comedy Channel for all four series of Dave commission Daves One Night Stand, which features stand-up comedians performing in their hometowns. Additionally, Foxtel's History Channel bought Yesterday's Find My Past, which sees ordinary members of the public go on an extraordinary journey to find out how their ancestors played a role in some of historys key moments.

BBC Worldwide has snapped up Good Food commission Valentine Warner Eats Scandinavia for its Nordic and Middle East pay TV BBC Lifestyle feeds, while Foxtel also purchased the show for its LifeStyle FOOD channel. The series follows adventurous chef Valentine Warner as he travels across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to unearth the hidden food gems of Scandinavia.

This follows UKTV's sale of Valentine Warner Eats Scandinavia to Viasat for TV3, one of its FTA channels in Denmark, late last year.

Rachel Bailey, Head of Programming Western Europe, BBC Worldwide, said

Food programming is key to BBC Lifestyle's strategy and we're always looking for new and exciting content which offers a fresh and contemporary perspective on the food we eat. We are confident that our Nordic and Middle Eastern audiences, who already know and love Val Warner and his food philosophy, will also welcome the beautifully shot Valentine Warner Eats Scandinavia on the channel.

UKTV also continues to work closely with a number of international distribution companies to secure programme sales on a title-by-title basis, including its most successful franchises: Choccywoccydoodah, Dynamo: Magician Impossible, Dangerman: The Incredible Mr. Goodwin and The Happenings. Most recently, Passion Distribution made high-profile sales of Watch's original magic series The Happenings to Nat Geo US, Seven Network in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.

ENDS For more information: Kerry Parker, Head of Network Communications

Lara Feinstein, Corporate Communications Coordinator

Notes to Editors About UKTV UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers per month.

UKTVs ten imaginative channel brands - Watch, Dave, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home and Good Food - include the most watched non-PSB channel, the most watched channel in the Factual genre and the most watched channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free). The company's most recent financial results showed a record-breaking year-end revenue of ?262m, and operating profit at £71m.

UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC and Channel 4 content, and embracing technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, TalkTalk, YouView, plus direct On Demand digital services. The network distributes its highly valued programmes to 200 territories around the world and supplies Sky with more hours of HD content than anyone else. Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.

corporate.uktv.co.uk / press.uktv.co.uk / @uktv_press

LINK:	http://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/uktv-sells-homegrown-commissi...
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