When you’re working for public broadcasting, it helps to have an entrepreneurial spirit.

So the producers of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning TV drama Downton Abbey are going all out to bring in some extra revenue by expanding from DVD sales to creating a whole line of clothing, homeware, furniture, wallpaper, beauty products and stationery around the show that will go on sale later this year, according to CNBC.

After all, who couldn’t use an extra cape, cravat or pair of elbow-length gloves?Continue reading...

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Michael Bloomberg builds empire in U.K.

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In a sponsorship deal that was to the manor born, Ralph Lauren announced its first ever TV sponsorship — with PBS for Masterpiece, the U.S. public member-supported TV brand's flagship drama series that has "won six Emmy awards for outstanding costumes" as the Hollywood Reporter notes.

In tandem to updating its Facebook cover photo with a tweedy image evoking the roaring twenties, above, the brand's FB page announced: "Ralph Lauren is proud to announce its national corporate sponsorship of MASTERPIECE | PBS (Masterpiece Theatre), the celebrated PBS drama series known for hit programs such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock."Continue reading...

It's withdrawal time for millions of viewers of the wildly popular Downton Abbey, the British series that just concluded its second season on PBS. The period costumes, the two-track intrigue of the nobility and working class, the witty dialogue delivered in delicious British accents — all contribute to a success on American television not seen at this level since British classics such as Upstairs Downstairs and All Creatures Great and Small had their lengthy runs on PBS.

As fans anxiously await Season Three of Downton Abbey, however, another Anglophile-wooing TV channel is trying to take advantage of the the hiatus and the halo effect of the show: BBC America.Continue reading...

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Exxon Mobil sells Japanese subsidiary for $4 billion in move to cut refining.

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Continental could add extra fuel tanks to deal with unscheduled stops.

Downton Abbey frenzy in America creates marketing hook for book industry.Continue reading...