News


AT&T eyes US$40b DirecTV takeover: report

US telco AT&T has directly approached satellite pay TV firm DirecTV about a possible takeover, according to US reports. The Wall Street Journal cited ‘people familiar with the situation’ in its report, which said the deal would be worth about US$40 billion. AT&T wants to ramp up its video services. Last year it was one […]

Outgoing boss announces new BBC Three series

UK digital youth-skewed channel BBC Three has ordered three new formats. From the BBC’s own production department there will be a 6x30mins variety show, Nick Helm’s Heavy Entertainment, in which the titular host will explore weighty issues and set the world to rights. Lion TV is making dating show Sexy Beasts. It was piloted earlier […]

ITV Studios US hires business affairs boss from CBS

The US division of ITV Studios has recruited Tom Lane as senior VP, business & legal affairs. Lane joins ITV Studios America from CBS Studios International where he was senio VP, business & legal affairs, working across TV distribution, format licensing and CBS’s international cable channels. At ITV Studios, the content arm of the UK […]

First Hand deals in Death – A Series About Life

Switzerland-based distributor First Hand Films has struck a raft of international deals for its factual titles. Swedish public broadcast channel UR has acquired Death – A Series About Life (pictured), a five-part doc about looking at different aspects of and attitudes to dying around the world. UR bought the show as part of a wider […]

Hot in Cleveland hitting 100, gets renewed

US comedy series Hot in Cleveland has been renewed for a sixth season. The sitcom, which will hit the landmark hundred episode during the current fifth run, is produced by Hazy Mills Productions and Endemol has international sales and format rights. Endemol Worldwide Distribution has previously agreed deals for local versions of the comedy in […]

Viacom buys Channel 5 for £450 million

US media giant Viacom has bought UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 for £450 million (US$757 million). “The acquisition of Channel 5 accelerates Viacom’s strategy in the UK, one of the world’s most important and valuable media markets,” said Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman (pictured). “Channel 5’s momentum is indisputable, with impactful programming, increasing pularity […]

Time Warner in talks to distribute content outside of pay TV

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has confirmed the media giant is talking to Dish about the possibility of delivering its content to consumers outside of the traditional pay TV system. Satellite company Dish recently struck a deal with Disney to distribute various ABC, Disney and ESPN services to connected devices outside of a pay TV […]

Greece’s Antenna poaches NBCUniversal channels MD

Greek broadcast group Antenna has appointed Tariq Syed as its managing director of thematic channels and digital. Syed joins from NBCUniversal where he was managing director, Central Europe for the Studio’s channels division Universal Networks International. Prior to that he was vice president of business development at NBCUniversal. At Antenna he will oversee the Greek […]

Sky records surprise uptick in TV customers

UK pay TV operator BSkyB said that it added 74,000 new TV customers in the three months ending March 31, more than double the growth that it experienced in the same quarter last year. Announcing its fiscal third quarter results, Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said that Sky had a strong quarter and “continued to grow […]

Content Media cuts drama deal with Keo Films

Producer and distributor Content Media Corporation has agreed a first-look deal with KEO Films, as the UK indie producer moves into drama programming. KEO is currently known as a factual producer but as its branches out into scripted, Content will support it in terms of development and production and will distribute all resulting programmes internationally. […]