MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has unveiled a new addition to the slate of original productions for its BBC-branded portfolio around the world, ?Best In Town?.

The new series is the business? first fully-funded production with an independent production company since the announcement in September to treble the number of original programme hours ordered for its international audience.

Commissioned from Richard Bacon?s production company Mox Productions, which operates within Sebastian Scott?s Predictable production hub, ?Best in Town? sets three local business owners from the same area against each other in a battle to see who is "the best" operator in town. Featuring a diverse range of characters running familiar businesses, this competitive new factual entertainment series will air on BBC Entertainment and BBC HD in key territories from 2013.

The title has been ordered by Tracy Forsyth, VP, Commissioning, as part of her plan to treble the number of original hours ordered for BBC Knowledge, BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and UKTV (BBC Worldwide?s general entertainment channel in Australia and New Zealand) in 2012, with the aim of increasing the number of original hours on the channels to 100 by 2014. More major productions will be unveiled later this year.

Created with global audiences in mind, ?Best in Town? builds on one part of Forsyth?s twin track commissioning strategy; to order both international formats which will air in all markets, alongside local productions targeting individual markets.

Forsyth said, "We believe that the competition between passionate business owners in Best in Town will provide fertile territory for creating some truly entertaining moments in this returnable factual entertainment format. We think this desire to be the best is universal and will be of great appeal to our global audience."

BBC Worldwide Channels acting MD David Weiland said, "BBC Worldwide is committed to sourcing the best content from the UK production community and reflecting the most recent global trends. This new series is the sort of high-quality, innovative programming our global audience has come to expect from the BBC."

?Best in Town? sees three real life competitors from the same type of business battle it out for honours in the same area. The series challenges the entrepreneurs to use all their knowledge and business sense when they come face to face with their fellow traders for the first time. After the competitors have visited and assessed each other?s businesses and faced their ultimate challenge, a mystery shopper will put their customer service skills to the test. With the winner revealed, the business owners must meet again, shake the winner by the hand and admit that they are the "best in town".

Best in Town will air from next year on BBC Entertainment in Asia, Africa Latin America, Poland and the Nordic region and BBC HD in EMEA and Latin America.
In September, BBC Worldwide Channels had outlined plans to bolster its original programming slate, through a combination of fully funded series and co-productions from the BBC?s in-house productions teams, as well as the independent production community.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has announced that the latest series of motoring show ?Top Gear? will be coming to global television screens just days after the UK premiere transmission.

Kicking off with a new ?Top Gear? special in early 2012, series 18 will follow a maximum of 14 days after the UK transmission of the series on BBC Entertainment in India, Africa and Latin America and on BBC Knowledge in Poland and Asia.

BBC Worldwide Channels senior VP programming, TV channels David Weiland said, "It?s an important part of our programming strategy to bring as much of our acquired content to air as closely on our global network as it does in the UK. Top Gear is a hugely popular programme with viewers across all our territories and I?m delighted we are able to bring the latest series to them so close to the UK premiere transmission."

Sold to almost 200 territories worldwide, Top Gear achieves viewing figures of over six million viewers per episode when it premieres in the UK and is regularly the most downloaded programme on the BBC?s UK iPlayer, BBC Worldwide said. Since 2008, four international versions have been licensed by BBC Worldwide in Australia, Russia, China and the US.