The licence fee is increasing. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has today issued a Statutory Instrument raising the annual fee from £150.50 to £154.50 from April 1st 2019. The marginal fee increase is to adjust for inflation and was calculated by Government using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation, which is 2.68%.
Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton's Argonon backed production company Bandicoot has secured a two season order from BBC Scotland for Test Drive, a car-based game-show fronted by Scottish wrestler Grado. Both seasons will consist of eight episodes. The series sees three teams of two go on a road trip through some of Scotland’s most beautiful landscapes en route to a mystery destination – with the Satnav asking the questions and their answers dictating whether they take the short route or the long way round. 
To borrow from former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden: "this is a big f***ing deal". In what is undoubtedly the BBC's biggest move in U.S. scripted acquisitions in years, they have inked a content partnership (effectively an output deal) with FX Networks that will make the Beeb the UK home to all future FX original comedy and drama series. 
Three female authored dramas are coming to the BBC. The PSB has commissioned three new dramas from Nicole Taylor, Michaela Coel (pictured, right) and Sally Rooney. The announcement comes on the same day that Coel is set ti deliver the McTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. The three series will go out on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three, respectively. “I am honoured to be today announcing three brand new and contrasting dramas for BBC One, Two and Three", said the BBC's Controller of Drama Piers Wenger. 
STV Productions has scored a multi-season renewal from the BBC for both Antiques Road Trip and Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. BBC One's Antiques Road Trip will return for fourth further seasons, for a total of 80 episodes; while BBC Two's Celebrity Antiques Road Trip will be back for another season of 20 episodes. 
EXCLUSIVE: The Portrait Of A Lady is inching closer to the small screen. I'm hearing that the TV adaptation of the Henry James novel, which Red Production Company and Number 9 Films announced they were developing close to a year ago, has now landed at the BBC. It's not immediately clear if it's eyed for a spot on BBC One or BBC Two. In addition to landing at the Beeb for further development, my sources tell me that Secret Diary Of A Call Girl scribe Rebecca Lenkiewicz has also come on-board to pen the script for this adaptation. 
After a months long search to replace Poly Hill, the BBC has poached Channel 4's Head of Drama Piers Wenger to serve as their new Controller of Drama Commissioning, TVWise has learned. Meanwhile, over at Channel 4, the broadcaster has tapped Wenger's number two, Deputy Head of Drama Beth Willis, to succeed him as their Head of Drama when he departs later this year.