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BBC TV Boss Bennett Joins BBC Worldwide

By TIM ADLER in London | Thursday December 2, 2010 @ 7:35am PSTTags: BBC, BBC Mark Thompson, BBC Worldwide, TV, UK TV

As expected, BBC Vision director Jana Bennett, the woman in charge of all the BBC’s TV channels, is moving to the Beeb’s commercial arm. Bennett, who’s an adroit politician, will join BBC Worldwide in February 2011. She will control all of BBC Worldwide’s wholly-owned BBC channels, such as pre-school channel CBeebies. I’m hearing that Bennett may not be directly replaced as BBC director general Mark Thompson needs to cut the number of highly-paid executives. Bennett has been earning £517,000 ($805,172) a year in her current role.

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BBC Boss Warns Of ‘Abuse Of Power’ If Rupert Murdoch Takes Control of BSkyB

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday October 8, 2010 @ 2:57am PDTTags: BBC Mark Thompson, Mark Thompson, News Corp BSkyB, News Corp Finance, News Corp Sky, Rupert Murdoch BSkyB, Sky UK Broadcasting, UK Government BSkyB

Mark Thompson has called on the British government to intervene in News Corp’s bid to take full control of BSkyB. Speaking on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show in New York, he agreed there was potential for an abuse of power by the Murdoch media group if BSkyB, the UK’s biggest broadcaster in terms of its £5.4 billion revenue, comes under the same ownership as News International, the UK’s largest newspaper group. Combining BSkyB with News International, owner of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, raised issues of “how you ensure plurality in the system”, Thompson warned. He said that the UK government should look at those issues – although he stopped short of calling for the deal to be blocked. Read More »

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BBC Boss ‘Confident’ Over Licence Fee

By TIM ADLER in London | Tuesday September 28, 2010 @ 4:56am PDTTags: BBC Finance, BBC Licence Fee Freeze, BBC License Fee, BBC Mark Thompson, Mark Thompson, TV, UK TV

Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, says he’s upbeat over government negotiations to renew the £3.5 billion ($5.5 billion) licence fee. Talks over the next 4-year licence fee settlement, which runs 2013-16, are due to start next summer. The … Read More »

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Sky Getting Back Into Movie Business

By TIM ADLER in London | Thursday September 2, 2010 @ 3:47am PDTTags: BBC Mark Thompson, Sky, Sky Movies, Sky Movies HD, Sky Original Programming

UPDATE: The pay-TV giant wants to hear pitches for movies and two-part miniseries as it moves back into original feature production. Sky wants to co-produce three big event TV movies each year. The problem, it says, will be finding … Read More »

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BBC Chief Blasts Rupert & James Murdoch

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday August 27, 2010 @ 12:00pm PDTTags: BBC, BBC Finance, BBC Mark Thompson, Jeremy Hunt, Mactaggart Lecture, Mark Thompson, Mark Thompson Mactaggart Lecture, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, Sky Original Programming

As expected, BBC director general Mark Thompson has gone on the attack against the Murdochs and News Corp. He warned that Sky will shortly become Britain’s biggest broadcaster and said such a concentration of cross-media ownership would not be … Read More »

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BBC Boss Mark Thompson To Lay Into Sky

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday August 27, 2010 @ 4:00am PDTTags: BBC Finance, BBC Mark Thompson, Mactaggart Lecture, Mark Thompson, Mark Thompson Mactaggart Lecture, Sky, SKY Finance, Sky UK Broadcasting

Thompson will attack Sky tonight during his Mactaggart lecture speech at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. Thompson will point to the vast scale of Sky and its influence over the UK broadcasting industry. He will compare the £2 … Read More »

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