BBC Seeking Production Deals With U.S. TV Networks

NEW YORK —  While Britain’s House of Commons was opening its doors to global TV on Tuesday, a top BBC official said the BBC is talking with U.S. networks about co-producing shows for domestic and foreign markets.

Long-term deals could help control costs, said Michael Checkland, director general of the British Broadcasting Corp., and “together we could sell to the expanding European market.”

Referring to recent loosening of restrictions in Eastern Europe, he also asserted that “the opening of the Eastern Bloc presents new opportunities for us both.”

The non-commercial BBC primarily is supported by yearly fees of about $100 per household. With changes coming in British broadcasting, including more commercial channels, the BBC is seeking new sources of income.

It already has deals with U.S. cable networks and PBS that account for half its co-production business, Checkland said in a luncheon speech here to the International Radio & Television Society.

“We are talking to the networks to see if we can do business with them, too,” he added. “I very much hope we can. . . . Long-term deals between us are certainly in both our interests.”

Meeting later with reporters, Checkland said the BBC had a few co-productions on individual programs with U.S. networks about 20 years ago but nothing since.

Now, he said, BBC and CBS officials have been discussing long-term co-production possibilities in recent weeks, and “we’re just generally talking” about that with ABC and NBC.

Although he described the CBS talks as “positive,” he declined to be specific.

In his speech, Checkland also said the BBC plans to start developing a World Television News Service similar in editorial philosophy to its World Service that radio listeners have heard for years.

He later told reporters that the new service wouldn’t start before the end of 1990, and wouldn’t be a 24-hour service “at this stage.” He said it probably would start with three half-hour programs a day.