Thames and BBC to pool favourites on satellite

BBC Enterprises and Thames Television are pooling their most popular programmes and launching the UK Gold satellite channel on 1 November, competing with BSkyB for satellite viewers, and with ITV and Channel 4 for advertising.

The channel, free for at least the first year to the 3 million households able to receive programmes from the Astra satellite, promises entertainment for 20 hours a day, with repeats of drama, soaps, comedy, children's programmes and films. There will be no sport or news.

Derek Lewis, the executive handling the launch, said yesterday it offered advertisers a chance to place commercials in BBC programmes. Thames is selling the advertising.

The project, seen by the BBC as a way of earning profits to plough into new programmes, is attracting criticism from ITV. Melvyn Bragg, controller of arts at London Weekend Television, in an article in today's Independent, questions whether a commercially active BBC should be entitled to 100 per cent of the licence fee.

The main programme provider for UK Gold is the BBC, whose library of 120,000 old shows compares with Thames's 10,000.

The evening schedule will start with Neighbours, replaying every episode from the first, followed by Dr Who, drama such as The Onedin Line, and comedies such as Porridge and 'Allo 'Allo.

The shareholders are Thames, with 15 per cent, and BBC Enterprises, with 20 per cent. The remaining 65 per cent, and the pounds 35m launch costs, are underwritten by Cox Enterprises Inc of the US.

BBC Radio yesterday published plans to step up the number of programmes it will buy from independent producers. It plans to buy 2,770 hours by 1996-97, 10 per cent of output, compared with 600 hours in 1993-94.

Melvyn Bragg, page 17