Did you know that they watch Ballykissangel in Finland? Or that there's an appetite for documentaries on James Joyce in Mexico? These were some of the findings that came out of one the television industry's largest trade fairs, NAPTE, which took place in Las Vegas last week. There were 14 Irish companies at the fair, all under the banner, "Ireland on Screen", including Like It Love It, Monster Distributes, Network Ireland Television and RTE Commercial Enterprises. The trip was supported by Enterprise Ireland. The massive trade show was attended by around 20,000 delegates and 450 exhibitors. High on the conference agenda were debates and workshops on global trends such as "Reality TV", as well as that age-old question of producing quality TV on a budget. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld was presented with the Chairman's Award for an "outstanding contribution" to the television industry. In the real conference business of selling, the Irish contingent seemed pleased with the results. Network Ireland Television sold a six-part documentary series, On the Ballykissangel Trail, to American, Canadian and Finnish TV. Produced by Paradise Pictures, the series of six-minute shorts offers a behind-thescenes look at Ballykissangel. The distributor also sold some documentaries on James Joyce to the aforementioned Mexicans.
There was good news for Like It Love It too. The company says it's very close to a US network deal for The Lyrics Board, which currently airs in 22 countries. The company is also celebrating the recent success of The Lyrics Board in Norway. Last week, it beat Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in the ratings, capturing a 47 per cent share against WWTBAM's 43 per cent.
Channel 4 has begun preparations for a new series of Big Brother to be broadcast later this year. The deadline for applications from would-be contestants is over and the production company, Bazal, has started recruiting staff for the project. The famous London house will be used again - with a few minor design modifications. The word on the street is that Channel 4 bosses will choose who they think are the "participants most likely to have sex". Sponsorship for the series has not yet been decided but it is expected the official sponsor could pay about £5 million sterling for the privilege. The average UK audience during the show's run between July and September last year was 4.7 million. In hindsight, programme sponsor, Southern Comfort, got a bargain for last year's £1 million sterling price tag. Channel 4 is also reported to be considering a celebrity version of Big Brother for Comic Relief in March. Rumour has it the evictions might be executed just a touch more speedily and the house would be occupied for just a week.
Two members of an Irish crew filming a documentary in Dubai ended up on the wrong side of the law and found themselves being grilled by police for four hours last week. The director and cameraman weren't up to anything mischievous - rather they were unwittingly breaking a Dubai bye-law which prohibits the filming of airports and aircraft. While trying to film a plane taking off from the roadside outside the airport, the crew was stopped and taken to police headquarters for questioning. This happened on the last day of their five-day shoot covering the antics both on and off the pitch of the Eircell GAA Allstars, who were playing an exhibition match in Dubai. The two were held in a police station, while the police waited for an "expert" to examine their camera equipment and tapes. After a few hours and reassurance that they weren't, in fact, in the business of filming covert military operations, the lads were released. If you're interested in what else the posse got up to then check out Desert Showdown, a half-hour documentary on the trip which will be broadcast on TV3 next Wednesday. But don't expect any flying sequences . . .
After just two weeks of the "clash of the news bulletins" across the water, ITV's News at Ten is emerging as the winner in the ratings war. Britain's two main channels went head-to-head for the first time on Monday, January 22nd. The unprecedented clash was brought about after ITV was forced to return the news from 11 p.m. to its old slot, by the Independent Television Commission, after a plunge in the ratings. The BBC was just settling into its new slot with the BBC Ten O' Clock news switched from 9 p.m. last October, when its old rival arrived back. More than eight million people watched news anchor Sir Trevor McDonald's return to the 10 p.m. slot on its first night while the BBC's Peter Sissons pulled in just over 4 million. However, on the day of Peter Mandelson's dramatic resignation, the Beeb pulled back, capturing 5.6 million viewers as opposed to ITV's 4.5 million. This may have had something to do with the fact that News at Ten actually went out at 10.30 p.m. that night. ITV is only required to run News at Ten at 10 p.m. three nights a week, earning itself the wag's title of "News at When".
Maire Kearney can be contacted at mkearney@irish-times.com