NBC Universal last week purchased U.K.-based television producer Carnival Film & Television for about $55.5 million in hopes of selling more shows abroad as well as developing an incubator for programs that will make it on air in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal says. NBC plans to increase overseas revenue to $5 billion in 2010 from $3 billion in 2007, the paper says. Having writers, producers and directors in London also will insulate the company’s supply chain from labor difficulties like the Writers Guild of America fight, the Journal says.
—Greg Baumann