News round-up: Sky snags YouTube hit ‘Super Sema’; Bell details 2023/24 slate & Crave’s AVOD shift; A&E extends ‘Secret Of’

Super Sema

Sky snags YouTube hit Super Sema

Sky in the UK has picked up rights to Super Sema, the kids show that originated on YouTube and is from London and Nairobi-based female-led studio Kukua.

The deal, via Cake, will see Sky airing three seasons of the African animated superhero series, which is aimed at kids aged 4-8.

It was exec produced by Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave) and will launch in the UK on 14 August, available on Sky Kids and on the Sky Kids app.

The show, which was picked up by Cake last year, follows 10-year-old superhero Sema, who has science-and-tech-fuelled adventures against a villainous A.I. robot determined to take over her world with his bungling mini-bot army. The show launched as a YouTube Original in 2021.

Bell reveals 2023/24 slate & Crave’s AVOD shift

Canada’s Bell Media has unveiled its slate for 2023/24 and confirmed a move into AVOD for its streaming service, Crave.

The English and French-language original content slate totals 96 titles and more than 1,000 hours of original content, Bell said, with shows including lifestyle reality show The Take Back for CTV and docuseries The Squad set for CTV Drama Channel.

CTV Sci-Fi Channel will become the exclusive home in Canada to Cineflix’s comedy horror series Reginald The Vampire, while Crave originals include sketch comedy series The Dessert and Jae and Trey Richards’ new comedy The Office Movers.

Bell also confirmed it would be introducing an AVOD tier for Crave, although details have not yet been revealed. The service houses HBO content in Canada.

A&E unveils Lightbox & Curious commissions

A&E is expanding its Secrets Of franchise with commissions of documentary duo Secrets of Miss America and Secrets Of Penthouse.

Secrets Of Miss America, meanwhile, is a four-hour limited series that delves into the long-kept secrets of America’s oldest beauty pageant, exposing the shocking scandals at its core, while four-part Secrets Of Penthouse reveals the story behind the rise and fall of Bob Guccione, who made millions with Penthouse Magazine.

The former is from MGM Alternative and Lightbox, while Secrets Of Penthouse is produced by Curious Films.

A&E has also ordered a second season for Secrets Of Playboy from Sony-owned The Intellectual Property Corporation. The show debuts 10 July and unravels the glamourous mythology behind the Playboy empire and examines the far-reaching consequences of association with the brand.

A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights to all three shows.