News


Fox drops sci-fi series Almost Human

Sci-fi show Almost Human will come to an end after its first run after Fox opted to not take it to a second season. The show has performed well ratings-wise after a slow start, but the US broadcast net has decided not to proceed with more episodes as first reported by Deadline. Almost Human is […]

BBC orders Country Life magazine series

BBC Two has ordered Inside Country Life, a reality show set inside the offices of British lifestyle magazine Country Life. The 3x60mins show will be made by Spun Gold and produced by Jane Treays, the exec behind the successful BBC Two series Inside Claridges and who recently joined the UK independent prodco. It will follow […]

Tricon enjoys The Spoils of Babylon with new deals

Canada-based distributor Tricon Films & Television has shopped rights to its spoof miniseries The Spoils of Babylon (pictured) to CMore in Scandinavia and Studio Canal in France. Electronic sell-through rights to the show, which is a spoof family drama starring Tobey Maguire, have been picked up by iTunes in Canada and the UK. The 6x30mins […]

Thrones most illegally shared US show, CBS hardest hit network

New research into illegal file sharing shows that over the course of one week a raft of top scripted series were being shared by 3.7 million users around the world via the peer-to-peer BitTorrent network. Anti-piracy tech firm Ceg Tek conducted the research ahead of the Cable Show, the cable industry trade show that is […]

Tom Toumazis returns to TV

Tom Toumazis, the former Disney distribution boss and Endemol CCO, is returning to the TV sector, joining TVBeat, the real-time audience measurement business. Toumazis will chairman of the London-based start-up. Having worked at Eurosport, Disney, ITV and Endemol, Toumazis left the TV business to take the helm at publishing firm Mecom. Speaking about his new […]

Turner poaches distribution director from Disney

Turner Broadcasting has named Humphrey Black as its new vice-president, media distribution, EMEA. Black was previously director of channel distribution, EMEA at The Walt Disney Company where he was responsible for the licensing of Disney’s channels and branded video-on-demand services as well as providing strategy and developing best practice for local and regional sales teams […]

Maker Studios hires UK boss

Maker Studios, the digital content and channels specialist that is being acquired by Disney, has appointed its first UK managing director. Dan’l Hewitt has taken the newly-created role and joins from Voower, the digital advertising marketplace he cofounded. Prior to that he was at hipster digital brand Vice Media and he has also worked at […]

Erik de Winter replaces Grant Ross at Endemol

Endemol’s global head of acquisitions, Grant Ross, is leaving the company and will be replaced by acquisitions manager Erik de Winter. Ross is leaving the producer and distributor for an unspecified role outside Endemol. Having joined Endemol France in 2007, he was upped to head of format acquisitions in 2009. Erik de Winter is being […]

Blue Ant International strikes output deal

Recently-launched distributor Blue Ant International has agreed its first output deal, linking with factual producer Our House. The agreement means Toronto-based Blue Ant will be the exclusive distributor of the North American indie producer’s programming internationally. Our House is the producer set up by former Cineflix Productions’ CEO Simon Lloyd and executive VP Joe Houlihan […]

Netflix cuts Verizon interconnect deal

Netflix has signed an interconnect deal with US telcom operator Verizon in a bid to improve performance for customers. The deal comes after Netflix signed a similar agreement with Comcast in February, agreeing to pay the US cable giant to gain direct access to its network to deliver a better quality service to Comcast subscribers. […]