MUMBAI: National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) is creating a programme commissions and content hub in the UK.

NGCI is in the process of recruiting a commissioning team who will report to Hamish Mykura and be based in the
London office. Earlier in March, NGCI had appointed Mykura as executive VP, head of international content.

The move is aimed at NGCI?s strategy of boosting international production to suit audiences across the globe.

Said NGCI CEO Hernan Lopez, "Moving our international programming to London under the leadership of Hamish Mykura is part of our continuing expansion and commitment to increasing international production of high-quality
programming that resonates with audiences across the globe".

The London office will now be the main hub for the commissioning of series and single shows, which are for broadcast primarily on National Geographic Channel (NGC) outside of the US in 172 countries and to over 335 million homes.

Mykura said, ?NGCI?s London commissioning hub is a massive vote of confidence in the UK production sector. The independent production community in the UK is a world leader in factual television and locating our commissioning and programming here is the ideal way to capitalise on it?.

Mykura?s programming vision includes a balance of topics with a combination of epic specials and strong series that leverage the strength and breadth of the brand as well as focusing on character-led series with a factual-entertainment sensibility.

?If we generate international hits they will also play on the channel in the US. We are ambitious to make bigger series and more entertaining programmes and we want producers to bring their best ideas to National Geographic Channel as the first port of call,? said Mykura.

The creation of the UK hub follows on the heels of the recent announcement by National Geographic Channels US extending development teams in New York and Los Angeles alongside Washington, DC.

The new London team will also have an important role in feeding new ideas and information back to the team in the US under both NGC US CEO David Lyle and NGC president Howard Owens.

MUMBAI: In a major setback for Rupert Murdoch, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the British Parliament which is probing the phone hacking scandal at News International has ruled that the News Corp chief is ?unfit? to lead the company.

The committee in its report to the Parliament accused the media tycoon of "wilful blindness" by deliberately covering up evidence of phone hacking at his UK publishing business which eventually led to the closure of 168 year old News of the World news paper.

"On the basis of the facts and evidence before the Committee, we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications.

"This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International. We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company," the committe said in the conclusion of its report.

Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch had last week laid the blame of phone hacking on subordinates, insisting that they were unaware of the wrong doing at the News of the World.

According to reports, the verdict has divided political parties in Britian with Labour Party panel member Tom Watson saying the decision had not been unanimous, and Conservative lawmaker Louise Mensch saying the split had been along party lines.

In a press statement, News Corp.regretted the committee?s tough language terming them as regretful and partisan.

"Hard truths have emerged from the Select Committee Report: that there was serious wrongdoing at the News of the World; that our response to the wrongdoing was too slow and too defensive; and that some of our employees misled the Select Committee in 2009," the statement read.

"News Corporation regrets, however, that the Select Committee?s analysis of the factual record was followed by some commentary that we, and indeed several members of the committee, consider unjustified and highly partisan. These remarks divided the members along party lines.

"We have already confronted and have acted on the failings documented in the Report: we have conducted internal reviews of operations at newspapers in the United Kingdom and indeed around the world, far beyond anything asked of us by the Metropolitan Police; we have volunteered any evidence of apparent wrongdoing to the authorities; and, we have instituted sweeping changes in our internal controls and our compliance programs on a world-wide basis, to help ensure that nothing like this ever happens again anywhere at News Corporation.

"As we move forward, our goal is to make certain that in every corner of the globe, our company acts in a manner of which our 50,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of shareholders can be justly proud."

Meanwhile, satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which is part owned by News Corp, has asserted that is a ?fit and proper? licence holder and was engaging with the regulator Ofcom in its assessment of BSkyB?s suitability.

Ofcom is reviewing whether Rupert and James Murdoch are ?fit and proper? to hold a broadcast licence following charges of phone hacking.