News


Chinese streamer launches Celestial horror channel

Asian streaming service LeEco has launched an OTT feed of Thrill, the horror channel operated by Celestial Tiger Entertainment. LeEco (fka Letv) will run a linear feed of the channel on its service in Hong Kong. The Thrill line-up will also be available on-demand to LeEco’s wider customer base in mainland China. “We are thrilled […]

Disney XD orders two, renews two

Disney has ordered two new shows, Billy Dilley’s Super-Duper Subterranean Summer, and Country Club. Both will be produced in-house by Disney Television Animation, and will roll out in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Billy Dilley’s Super-Duper Subterranean Summer follows eccentric science-obsessed seventh-grader Billy Dilley and his lab partners Zeke and Marsha as they find themselves stuck […]

MIPTV unveils 4K Ultra HD line-up

MIPTV has announced details of an “extensive” 4K, Ultra High Definition programme at the event next month. The UHD line-up will include 12 conference sessions and a keynote speech by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s senior vice-president of technology, Bill Baggelaar. There will also be a 4K world premiere screening of the first episode of NHK’s new […]

Netflix plays House of Cards in France, NZ

Netflix is to reportedly air the fourth season of its flagship drama House of Cards in France, taking the show back from pay TV rival Canal+, which has held the rights to the previous three seasons. The move will be a blow for Canal+, which has until now positioned itself as the exclusive distributor of leading […]

Verizon, Hearst create mobile video JV

US companies Verizon and Hearst are partnering to create a mobile content-focused joint venture. Verizon Hearst Media Partners will target millennial audiences, initially through two channels that will be distributed across Verizon’s Go90 and AOL platforms, and through third-party networks and licensors. RatedRed.com is billed as a “multiplatform digital video channel for millennials from the […]

All3, Endemol Shine among 30 PactUS sign-ups

All3Media America and Endemol Shine North America are among 30 TV producers that have signed up to indies association PactUS as initial members. The 30 companies include All3 America and its family of prodcos – namely Bentley Productions, Bogner Content, Commonwealth Unscripted, Company Pictures, ID-TV, Lime, Lion Television USA, Maverick, MME Moviement, North One Television, […]

Netflix ‘could pit new Top Gear against Amazon’

SVOD service Netflix is reportedly planning to deflate the tyres of Amazon Studios new Jeremy Clarkson-fronted motoring show by acquiring rights to the BBC’s new-look Top Gear. The Guardian has reported that talks have begun between Netflix and the BBC, whose commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, sells the Top Gear format and finished tape internationally. BBCWW […]

PCCW’s Netflix rival hits new markets

The Viu OTT service has launched in India and Malaysia. The streaming service is run by PCCW and launched in the Hong Kong telco’s domestic Hong Kong market, and in Singapore, earlier this year. The Indian version of Viu will have international and Bollywood content and music videos, and has licensing deals with distributors including […]

Two true-crime dramas for BBC

The BBC has ordered Murdered by My Father, and a new season of Murder for BBC Two, bolstering the UK pubcaster’s line-up of dramas based on real-life crimes. In the walk of Making a Murderer, The Jinx and The People v. O.J Simpson in-depth examinations of true crimes are a popular genre for broadcasters and […]

ITV uncorks The Wine Show

ITV has ordered a lifestyle series The Wine Show from Infinity Creative Media, the prodco and financier that is chaired by Michael Grade. In the series, actors Matthew Goode (Watchmen), and Matthew Rhys (The Americans) look at all aspects of wine from a Tuscan villa, looking at popular wines and famous labels. Wine experts Joe […]