MUMBAI: The BBC has retained free-to-air highlights of the Premier League in the United Kingdom until the end of the 2015/16 season.

With a bid of ?179.7m the BBC has retained their highlights package, including the traditional Saturday evening Match of the Day programme, the Sunday morning repeat, MotD2 on Sunday evenings and other evenings when Premier League fixtures justify a show.

Match of the Day and MotD2 will also be available on the BBC?s iPlayer from midnight on Mondays.

Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore said: "The free-to-air highlights are extremely important to the broadcast reach of the Premier League; allowing the competition and our clubs to be seen by the maximum possible number of fans across the country.The BBC has done a fantastic job for fans of Premier League clubs by providing quality coverage and analysis across their programmes. We are very pleased to be continuing our partnership with them."

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker added: "It is wonderful news that we have MotD for another three years. It is a flagship programme and it shows how much the BBC values sport and the importance of football."

The new contract will see MOTD celebrate its 50th birthday.

BBC Director of Sport Barbara Slater said: "With such an amazing season and thrilling finale, Premier League football has never been more exciting and dramatic. We?re absolutely delighted that the TV highlights will continue to be available to licence fee payers. We?ve seen audiences for MOTD grow in recent years and the programme remains one of the BBC?s best loved and most iconic brands."

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC?s channel BBC One controller Danny Cohen and BBC controller, entertainment commissioning Mark Linsey have commissioned Initial (an Endemol company), to produce ?Secret Service?, a new six-part comedy series for Saturday evenings on BBC One.

The ?Secret Service? are a team of highly trained operatives (actors and comedians) who are looking for people who need to be pranked, wound up, or tricked into believing something utterly ridiculous while being secretly filmed.

In this hidden camera show, Richard and his elite Secret Service team are here to help the people of Britain. If you have a mission for them, and it needs to be kept secret from someone (and then broadcast to the nation) they are the team for you.

Linsey said, ?Richard has proved to be an enormous treat for the Saturday night audience with his own unique brand of humour, and I think the viewers are going to enjoy his Secret Service as much as they have Total Wipeout."

Initial creative director Nick Samwell-Smith said, "Following on from the great fun we?ve had with ?Total Wipeout?, we?re delighted to be working with Richard Hammond again on this exciting new hidden camera show, which will make for great family viewing on Saturday nights.?

MUMBAI: The unions at BBC - Bectu, the NUJ and Unite - have confirmed that a national dispute over pay and conditions which threatened action over the Jubilee weekend has been settled.

The BBC?s one per cent pay offer for 2012-13 (subject to a minimum increase of ?400) remains derisory, say the unions, but talks with senior management have secured concessions on conditions which will provide valuable protections during the current licence fee period.

A joint statement notes that while it is accepted that, as in many organisations, cuts in funding will have an impact on staff, it is believed by both the joint unions and management that a continuous pattern of annual settlements which represent a real cut in pay are neither desirable nor sustainable. A great deal is expected from people in the BBC and whilst no one is immune from the impact of the reduced funding, employees must be paid fairly.

Ensuring that people are rewarded fairly for the remainder of the licence fee period will be dependent on a variety of factors, some of which are unknown at this time: the impact of the economy on household (and Licence Fee) growth, inflation levels, commercial income, the achievement of identified savings, potential risks around the pension deficits, etc. Both management and unions will endeavour to ensure that a fair level of remuneration is integral to the BBC?s future plans.

Both sides have accepted that there will be no movement from the current offer of one per cent this year, but the BBC is committed to ensuring that pay settlements during this licence fee period go some way to reflect the cost of living, as far as these factors allow.

In addition to this joint undertaking, management and the joint unions have agreed to the following key principles, for the duration of the Licence Fee period as a minimum, in a joint effort to work through the challenges together:

Approach to pay negotiations

- Both management and unions remain committed to constructive national pay bargaining

- The annual pay settlement will continue to be a standard pan-BBC adjustment determined by collective bargaining with the joint unions

- Will not move to regional/divisional pay bargaining

- The annual pay increase will remain a collectively negotiated across the board increase - this standard increase will not be performance related for graded staff

The parties have a joint commitment to work co-operatively and constructively in developing new pay and grading framework and proposed changes to terms and conditions. Following last years? consultation, work continues in an effort to find the best way of recognising unpredictable and unsociable working patterns. Whatever the end result, there will be no imposed reduction
in current UPA and Flexibility allowance rates for existing recipients

Performance Ratings

- Both management and unions believe in helping staff develop through an effective appraisal system
- While many staff are comfortable with the way in which the performance rating system works, some are not and, therefore, performance ratings will continue to be voluntary (both verbal and
written) for the next two years after which time the position will be reviewed

Individuals will continue to have the opportunity to see finalised appraisal forms prior to adding comments and to receive a copy

Redeployment

- Both management and unions remain committed to retaining as many of our great people as we can during this difficult period. The BBC?s position is that some compulsory redundancies may be unavoidable. Whilst progress has been made in the way the BBC re-deploys staff at risk and the new approach is meeting with some success, both sides believe that they can continue to improve and have therefore agreed to tighten up the processes still further

- The BBC policy of ?Looking inside the BBC first? will be amended so that managers must look in the redeployment database first for suitably qualified candidates prior to posting an ad internally
(excluding posts on the agreed exceptions list). If there are no suitable candidates, the unions will be notified of all vacancies then advertised internally which will run for a minimum of seven days.

In the event there are no suitable internal candidates following this process, managers can then advertise externally which will run for a minimum of seven days prior to any employment offers being made

- The maximum continuous engagement for casual staff should be three months; the joint unions to raise examples where they believe this is not the case which will be investigated centrally

MUMBAI: Infotainment channel History TV18 and news channel CNN IBN have announced the judges for the initiative ?The Greatest Indian?.

The show format is based on a ground breaking series featured on BBC called ?The Greatest Briton?. The initiative will look to answer the question of who the greatest Indian is and what does it take to be called ?Great?? The parties had formally announced the initiative in February.

The first phase of initiative comprises a jury selecting some of the Greatest Indians who have shaped the nation. The jury comprises personalities like N. Ram (former Editor-In-Chief of The Hindu), Vinod Mehta (Editor-in-Chief of Outlook), Soli Sorabjee (Former Attorney General of India), Sharmila Tagore (Bollywood actress and former Chairperson of the Censor Board of India), Harsha Bhogle (sports) and Chetan Bhagat (author).

The jury would be entrusted the task of limiting the poll list to 50 Great Indians out of a preeminent list of such 100 super achievers. The list of 50 will then be released for a nationwide poll curtain raiser on 4 July by CNN IBN Editor in Chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has signed a deal with RTL that sees the German commercial broadcaster become a co-production partner on the BBC Natural History Unit?s forthcoming series ?Hidden Kingdom?.

This will be the first time RTL has worked with BBC Worldwide to co-produce a natural history series and the broadcaster joins other co-production partners Discovery and France 2.

Commissioned for BBC One, ?Hidden Kingdom? takes a microscopic look at nature and transforms small worlds into giant places. The series will take viewers on an immersive journey into strange lands where tiny animals are living incredible and dramatic lives.

RTL head of infotainment Agnes Ostrop will act as executive producer on behalf of RTL and a tailored 1x90 German language version of the series will deliver to the network for broadcast in primetime.

BBC Worldwide head of German speaking territories Isabelle Helle said, "?Hidden Kingdom? is an exceptional project using innovative storytelling techniques to bring audiences a new and in depth perspective on this fascinating world. RTL has long been a valued partner of BBC Worldwide and we are thrilled they are venturing for the first time into natural history co-producing on this phenomenal project."

Executive produced by Mike Gunton, the three part series will take the BBC Natural History Unit?s renowned photographic techniques and shrink them down to show the world on a different scale. The series will be filmed in some of the planet?s most iconic places, likely to include the Amazon Rainforest, African Savannah and Mojave Desert.

BBC Worldwide has also signed a new programme licensing deal with RTL for 45 hours of content.

Factual titles ?Bomb Squad? and ?Bomb Hunters? will premiere on RTL?s new free-to-air channel RTL Nitro. Also going to free-to-air on SuperRTL will be Robin Hood (S3) and the adventure drama Sinbad.

?Brazil with Michael Palin? leads a slate of informative titles
premiering on RTL Living including ?Jimmy?s Forrest?, ?How to Grow a Planet? and ?After Life - the Strange World of Decay?, while RTL Crime will host suspense drama ?The Body Farm? and Left Bank?s thriller ?Mad Dogs?.

MUMBAI: BBC has announced plans for Euro 2012 which kicks off on 8 June. Coverage will be led by Gary Lineker and will include 16 live games, including a potential England quarter final, both semi finals and the final.

Harry Redknapp will join Jurgen Klinsmann, Clarence Seedorf and David James in the lineup alongside regulars Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer and Lee Dixon.

Redknapp rejoins the BBC team following his involvement in the 2010 World Cup: ?I?m really looking forward to working with the BBC team again on what should be a terrific tournament.?

He?ll join the on-air team broadcasting from the state-of-the-art studio based at BBC Sport?s new home at MediaCityUK in Salford. Using the very latest in augmented-reality virtual graphics, Motion Analysis and VizRT, the team will bring the atmosphere and flavour of every live game to audiences across the country.

Jake Humphrey will lead the coverage from Poland and Ukraine, while Gabby Logan will bring all the news and updates direct from the England camp.

In addition to comprehensive TV coverage, the BBC will also bring audiences full coverage of the tournament across radio and online platforms. On radio all games will be covered via BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra whilst a raft of online tools, alongside live streaming of BBC games will mean viewers can follow the tournament wherever they may be.

BBC head of TV Sport Philip Bernie said, ?We are really looking forward to our top team covering the European Championships. We have an excellent line-up of talent to present and comment on all the action and hope to see England progressing as far as possible, with the BBC showing all their knockout matches live.?

Radio 5 live controller Adrian Van Klaveren said, ?Euro 2012 is the start of a spectacular summer of sport across 5 live and 5 live sports extra. From the first kick to the final whistle, we?ll make sure our listeners can hear all the action and news as well as having their say on air and online."