Canada, US New Show Broadcast Updates

TBI Buyers' Briefing, a weekly information service sent to over 6,000 worldwide TV executives, this morning features a news item: "BBC scout gets feet under US table: Dr Who US sale being finalised". Among the various items mentioned in the report, which is mostly about the move of BBC Worldwide executive Paul Telegdy from London to the US, is an impending sale of the new series to this, the largest television market for the new show. "One really exciting franchise on both sides of the Atlantic that audiences know and love is Dr Who," Telegdy is quoted as saying in the report. It mentions that he is talking to an "interested party" and is confident it will be sold to a US network in the near future. "We're discussing the ratings potential of the show," he explains. He is likely referring to a cable network, not to one of the over-air broadcast networks.

Meanwhile, the UK trade paper Broadcast also mentions the Canadian acquisition of the show in an article in yesterday's edition. "Canadian public broadcaster CBC Television has become the first channel to buy the new series of Dr Who, months before it is due to air in the UK." (This doesn't mean it will air before the UK, only that it's been bought months before the broadcast.) But CBC Television executive director programming Slawko Klymkiw does state, "This was an exciting opportunity for CBC to bring Dr Who to fans new and old alike across the country. We are pleased to be working closely with BBC to bring Canadians this exceptional new series." (Thanks to John Freeman)