For the past three or four MIPtv markets E! Entertainment Television’s senior vice-president, international development Jon Helmrich has told Interspace that a UK launch for the channel is “close”.

But for once the phrase “closer than ever” seems to be accurate and not a expression of hope. Indeed, moments after his interview Helmrich was hunkered down with Ewart Needham about using Teddington Studios as production space, and Helmrich said a third or fourth quarter launch is “a safe bet”.

“Its been a long haul but it has always been about balancing the guaranteed, no risk, income from selling our programming to people like Granada and Sky, and the risks associated with launching a channel. [We also look] to shifts in the market, for example the rapid growth in DTH and slower growth in cable, and asking how we are going to do what is best for us,” said Helmrich.

Helmrich said when the channel launches, people will be amazed at how much development work has been going on in readiness for launch. “We pretty well know who we are going to work with on local production, which will amount to around 200-300 hours a year,” he said. “We are in discussions on staffing and space. It shows how ready we are.”

Mark Feldman, E!’s executive vice-president for business development, said developments in the US have moved so fast for the channel that its financial ability to move in too many directions have been limited. “A lot of our international development plans are today much larger than they were a year ago, which has meant restructuring some discussions, and represent larger investment commitments.” Now E! is taking a “serious look at Germany following the ending of an output agreement with Premiere last November. “We are talking to a host of potential German partners,” said Helmrich. With the German market being so important “it’s vital to get that one right,” he said. E! is also committed to Yes Television’s Israeli DTH platform, set to launch early in July, and hopes to also gain cable exposure locally.

“Turkey and India have both been very active markets for us, and we have had meetings with DigiTurk and Dogan [in Turkey], and with broadcasters locally,” said Helmrich. “It is also interesting because the rival Turkish DTH operators are pitching us very heavily, wanting us to bring in adjacent feed to get us on air.”

E! will launch on Canal Digital over Scandinavia this September, with subtitled material for each of Canal Digital’s Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish coverage. Indeed, the Nordic region is E!’s most loyal region, having been part of the original Filmnet operation in January 1992 in six languages. In Spain E! has a hybrid channel, part E! and part drawn from its US Style channel, now three years old. E! is considering increasing its Spanish ownership stake, as it has recently done in Latin America.

A year ago E! launched in Poland, which gave it a springboard into Russia two months later (in a joint venture with Zone Vision) on NTV+. Helmrich said he is keen to see E! rolling out in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and the Balkans. E! is also boosting its own production slate, to include movies and what Helmrich describes as “an anthology series”.