News


Vivendi weighs European and Japan SVOD launches

Vivendi is weighing the launch of subscription VOD services in a number of Europe countries and Japan, according to a report by French business news channel BFMTV. According to BFMTV, citing unnamed industry sources, the owner of Canal+ aims to differentiate its services by various means including combining video with a subscription music service, leveraging its ownership […]

CBS format travels to Africa

CBS Studios International-distributed Kids Say the Darndest Things has been shopped into Nigeria, with the AIT channel ordering a local version of the evergreen format. Nigerian prodco Bafot Studios will make the local version of the show, which will be available on the terrestrial AIT channel and via the DSTV platform, on which it is […]

CBC stocks up on BBC and ITV drama

Canadian pubcaster the CBC has bought UK period drama Banished and a new adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde and both are among the highlights of its upcoming 2015-16 schedule. Banished (left), which follows exiled Britains in an Australian penal colony in the 18th century and airs on BBC One in the UK, has been acquired from […]

Hulu makes Dr. Dimensionpants appointment

US streaming and catch-up service Hulu has acquired kids series Dr Dimensionpants. The series, which goes out on Teletoon in Canada, will get its US debut on Hulu. Dr Dimensionpants follows a young boy that becomes an inter-dimensional superhero when he wears a pair of glowing pants, was a commission from Corus Entertainment’s Teletoon in […]

History takes African rights to Mandela, My Dad & Me

A+E has acquired African rights to one-off doc Idris Elba: Mandela, My Dad & Me. The Content Media-distributed show has already been acquired by Discovery in the UK. In Africa it will go out on A+E’s History later this year. The project was initially planned as documentation of Elba’s attempt to make a music album […]

Sky launches Veep on demand before linear

Sky is making the new, fourth, season of HBO comedy Veep available as on on-demand box-set ahead of it hitting linear TV. The UK pay TV operator will make the entire season available as a Fourth of July special through its Sky Box Sets on-demand service. The previous three seasons will also be available. The […]

Netflix ‘can’t compete’ with Sky, Canal+ for premium rights

Despite its rapid growth, Netflix will not achieve the scale to compete with the likes of Sky and Canal+ for premium rights, in the short term at least, according to new research. In the jointly-authored Arthur D. Little and Exane BNP Paribas report, How to Ride the OTT Wave, the strategy consultants says that competition […]

Salling exiting Nordic World, setting up Missing Link

Jan Salling is leaving Nordic World and setting up his own formats business, Missing Link Media. Salling is well known in the formats world, having played an instrumental part in establishing Nordic World, the formats distributor. He is stepping down as COO and managing director of sales and acquisitions at the company. Missing Link will consult […]

Cineflix snags buzzy sex-change series

Cineflix has taken international rights to the buzzy upcoming US reality show Becoming Us. The series is being produced by Ryan Seacrest’s prodco RSP for US cable net ABC Family. The 10x60mins show debuts next month and will follow a teenager as he learns of his parents’ imminent divorce and his father’s decision to undergo […]

Bill Roedy buys into PopShack

Former MTV Networks chairman and CEO Bill Roedy has taken a stake in music-focused multichannel network startup PopShack and has joined the board of directors alongside PopShack seed investors Blenheim Chalcot. Roedy will serve as a non-executive director, assisting the company on strategic issues across brand and entertainment alliances. PopShack aims to build a global […]