It's my final day here in Cannes, although the buying and selling goes on until tomorrow. And then it all starts again in October for Mipcom. But first, some quite funny news...
10.35am Cannes time - I have been told there is more to the story I wrote on Tuesday about two completed series of UK Big Brother being sold to Polish TV. Apparently it was the commercial TVN network which approached Endemol and asked to buy a couple of series in order - wait for it - to use it as an educational tool to help Poles learn English. No, really. The network will screen the full series of Big Brother 3 and 4 in order to help its viewers learn every day English in a fun way. Lord only knows what they will make of screeching Jade Goody getting her 'kebab' out and the almost daily screaming matches, let alone what it will do to their language skills. An insider told me it was a huge job for Endemol to clear the rights on the two series as every piece of music used from the tasks, as well as the Paul Oakenfold theme tune, had to be seperately cleared. The Sun, which followed up my story yesterday, jokily said that it hoped the series weren't going to be used for educational purposes. Looks like your worst fears have come true guys!
11am - Spanish viewers will soon get their own local versions of two of ITV's hit entertainment formats. International production company Magnolia is making a four-part series of Help...I'm A Teen Mum for broadcaster Cuatro while ETB, the public Basque regional channel, is creating its own seven episode run of Favourite View, which aired on ITV1 at the end of last year. The two shows join a number of other ITV formats that are currently on air in Spain including the second series of My Teen's a Nightmare, I'm Moving Out, made by Magnolia for Cuatro, while La Lista (Rich List) from 12 Yard is broadcast on La Uno five days a week and Pasapalabra (The Alphabet Game) is currently airing on Telecinco seven days a week. The deas were done by Granada International, part of ITV Worldwide.
