£500,000 cash boost for BBC English regions programming

An extra £500,000 investment in regional independent television productions has been announced by the BBC.
The extra money will be spent on a range of new programmes across all 11 BBC regions in England.
Andy Griffee, Controller of BBC English Regions, said: "This additional funding is to be spent over the next five months and I hope it will be repeated in the 2004/2005 financial year."
Griffee added that it was "a move to build on two very successful years for the BBC's regional television output."
The BBC regional current affairs and politics series have moved from BBC Two to new BBC One slots where audiences have doubled and trebled respectively over the last year.
"Budgets for Inside Out and the Politics Show have increased and now we want to extend our genre range even further," added Griffee.
"We want to do it almost exclusively with the independent sector across England."
The new range of programmes includes 'Local Hero', 40-minute profiles on famous regional personalities who have been chosen by local radio listeners and regional television news viewers.
"We'll also be choosing particular regions to pilot exciting ideas including news archive based programmes and a number of entertainment, sport and arts ideas," said Griffee.
He anticipated the additional investment would pay for up to 20 additional programmes each year.
Craig Henderson, Head of Programmes, English Regions, said: "We've come a long way in recent years. I'm delighted that this extra cash will provide an exciting opportunity and help us in our determination to develop the talent in the independent sector."
(GB)