News


News brief: Italy’s Rai sells drugs drama to the US

The international division of Italian state broadcaster Rai has notched several sales in the wake of MIPCOM. Rai Com has shopped Antidrug Squad 2 (La Narcotici 2) to US cable net MHz. The distributor added that the Goodtime and Beta Production drama, about a team of cops tackling the war on drugs, is attracting strong […]

FremantleMedia options Korean gameshow

FremantleMedia has optioned Korean format The Genius Game for France. In the show, players from different backgrounds take on each other in social games, testing their logic, strategy and mental agility abilities. South Korean media company CJ E&M distributes the show and struck the French deal. In Korea the show launched in 2012 and runs […]

News brief: Discovery orders Too Ugly for Love?

Discovery has ordered a new dating series Too Ugly for Love? for its international nets. The series will be produced by Betty, the UK prodco Discovery acquired in 2011. It will follow ten singles looking for love, but also hiding medical conditions that have hampered their efforts. The six-part series will launch on TLC in […]

Fourquet and Manintveld launch YouTube nets

Former A+E Networks and Canal+ executive Fabienne Fourquet and BeBanjo founder and former On Demand Group general manager Bastian Manintveld have teamed up to create a new YouTube multichannel network aimed at Ibero-American content creators. 2btube will be based in Madid, with offices in Miami, and will have the goal of developing Ibero-American content creators and […]

Worldwide Walking Dead ratings boom

Hot on the heels of breaking records in the US, the fifth season premiere of The Walking Dead has gobbled up viewers across Europe, Asia and Latin America. Ratings for the zombie apocalypse drama in Europe were up 68% over the season four opener, while globally numbers were up 45%. The live+1 data comes from […]

Sky defies sceptics with Q1 growth

BSkyB has managed to defy continued downward economic pressure on consumer spending to beat analysts’ expectations in its latest quarterly results. The UK sat caster added 760,000 new paid-for subscription products in its fiscal first quarter, 8% more than the previous quarter, and added 51,000 new retail customers to close the quarter at 11.5 million. […]

CBS launches SVOD service

US broadcast network CBS has launched a US$5.99 a month subscription streaming service. CBS All Access will offer subscribers thousands of episodes of CBS programming such as NCIS: New Orleans (pictured), plus access to live CBS programming in 14 major launch markets. The shows on offer will be a mix of current series, previous seasons […]

‘Dramatic’ increase in TV multitasking

The past year has seen a “dramatic increase” in multitasking during TV viewing, with half of TV viewers now doing this according to the research division of DVR maker TiVo. TiVo Research’s second annual TiVo Multitasking and Social TV Survey found that 51% of respondents claimed to multitask “every time or almost every time” they […]

Canal+ could sell Polish channel stake

Canal+ Group and ITI could sell their 51% majority stake in leading Polish broadcaster TVN, the pair have confirmed. Canal+ and ITI said they had received approaches in recent months from multiple financial investors and industrial groups interested in acquiring control of TVN. ITI and Canal+ have consequently agreed to look at their strategy options […]

ORF does roaring MIPCOM trade

Franco-German cultural channel Arte prebuying wildlife documentary Lionsrock top lined a number of deals the commercial arm of Austria’s ORF landed at MIPCOM. Other agreements for ORF Enterprises include Tele-Quebec and SRC in Canada picking up Planet Sparrow and Triumph of the Tomato. Africa’s Wild West – The Horses of the Namib Desert has gone […]