NEW PROGRAMS FOR BRITAIN, U.S. : GRANADA, RKO ANNOUNCE TV VENTURE

Granada Television, producer of such highly acclaimed British series as “The Jewel in the Crown” and “Brideshead Revisited,” has teamed with the recently reorganized RKO Pictures to develop, produce and distribute television movies and miniseries.

Under terms of an agreement announced here Tuesday, the two companies plan to produce at least four projects over the next two years for U.S. and British TV.

“We’re two companies with very special needs and experiences,” said Barrie Heads, managing director for Granada Television International, in outlining the purpose of the joint venture. “We want to expand our horizons and adjust to the emerging technologies that are changing the (TV) business all over the world.”

Granada will have responsibility for the production while RKO handles distribution in the U.S., he said. The projects will be intended for commercial or pay-TV.

However, Heads also noted that, since the deal with RKO is non-exclusive, other Granada programming may still appear on public television here, as “The Jewel in the Crown” and “Brideshead Revisited” did.

RKO Pictures President C. Robert Manby said, “This is another in our efforts to develop new sources of programming that will fit realistically into the changing television market worldwide and take advantage of the new technologies.”

Over the last 18 months, RKO has attempted to revitalize its operation under three divisions: RKO Home Video, RKO Film Group and RKO Worldwide Syndication.

Budgetary details of the joint venture were not disclosed. Manby said the two companies “essentially are equal partners.”

More than a dozen projects are now in various stages of development, according to the two executives, including a television treatment of this year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Foreign Affairs,” by Alison Lurie.