Features


Blue chip to new chip: natural history with bite

Stewart Clarke speaks to commissioners, producers, distributors and digital pioneers about their efforts to reimagine the natural history genre. Alastair Fothergill is the embodiment of blue-chip, making landmark series for the BBC and films for Disney Nature, but he is now seeking to reinvent the genre, out of necessity as much as anything. “When I […]

Tom Forman – why you need me if you want to crack the US

The meeting always goes the same way. On one side, you’ve got me and my development exec. On the other, a smart producer from Spain. Or Israel. Or Timbuktu. We’re knee-to-knee in the Majestic lobby. Or camped at a table at the Carlton. If it’s after lunch, we’ve ordered wine. If it’s earlier, we’re pretending […]

BBC Worldwide channels energies into Brit, Earth and First

With the creation of the BBC Brit, Earth and First brands, BBC Wordwide is aiming to cement a place in the line-ups of pay TV platforms around the world. Key Worldwide executives tell Stewart Clarke how they will execute the roll out, and about their commissioning and acquisition needs The launch of three new international […]

State of the industry: Canadian kids TV

Digital disruption and an end to regulatory protection has some in the Canadian kids business worried, but while content providers have one less broadcaster to pitch following the sell-off of Astral Media’s assets, they are optimistic that the same new platforms threatening traditional TV will provide them with greater global reach. Mark Dillon reports. The […]

Gusto adds spice to foodie market

“There is no owners manual that comes with a broadcast license,” says Knight Enterprises’ Chris Knight about his fledgling food channel Gusto. Still less than 18 months old, it has cornered the classic food TV market and having moved into originals, was at MIPTV with two series, A is for Apple (below) and One World […]

Buyer’s briefing: Mike Cosentino, Crave TV

Name: Mike Cosentino Title: Senior VP, programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV; chair, Bell Media Programming Council CraveTV launched in Canada last December in the fiercely competitive local SVOD scene that includes Netflix and Shomi, which is owned by cable giants Rogers and Shaw. Here, MIke Cosentino tells TBI about Bell Media-backed CraveTV, its programming deals […]

German TV makes historic move

New investment in drama by local channels and a willingness to greenlight risky, edgy projects is resulting in a new wave of German drama, much of it with historical themes, reports Michael Pickard As one of the first international backers of Scandinavian crime drama, ZDF Enterprises, can lay claim to helping spark one of the […]

The world in ratings: lessons from 2014

Eurodata analyst Aurelie Sykes-Darmon highlights the latest industry-defining trends in the TV world In 2014, the global TV audience’s preferences fluctuated between an enduring fondness for fiction, and for entertainment formats, which made a comeback, the latest top 10 programme rankings reveal. Fiction represented 40% of the programmes in the top rankings, and the gap […]

Alastair Fothergill on The Hunt

Alastair Fothergill embodies blue-chip documentary more than any other filmmaker and with his latest series, The Hunt, sought to push the boundaries of the high-end factual genre once again. The series takes a look at nature’s predators, but in a new light by also telling the stories of their victims. “Natural history predator sequences are […]

Nick Broomfield tells Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Nick Broomfield’s latest project sees the Biggie & Tupac filmmaker bring his particular low-fi aesthetic to the case of Lonnie Franklin Jr., aka the ‘Grim Sleeper’, who stands accused of conducting a 25-year killing spree in South Central, the deprived and largely black part of Los Angeles. Venturing into the most notorious part of LA […]