News


News brief: SBS, Viasat pre-buy Own Rainforest

SBS in Australia and European broadcaster Viasat have prebought eco-themed factual entertainment series I Bought My Own Rainforest. Viasat’s deal covers Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe. The 3x60mins programme from Keo Films is soon launch on BBC Two and has the UK’s Hat Trick International attached as distributor. The show follows wildlife photographer Charlie […]

Broadcasters prebuy ABC’s Black Box

Broadcasters in Europe and Israel have acquired ABC’s upcoming medical procedural The Black Box. RTL in the Netherlands, VMMA in Belgium, Zon Lusomundo in Portugal, DBS in Israel and Blue Sky Media in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, Greece and Cyprus have all acquired the show, which bows on ABC in the States on April […]

FremantleMedia and Roland Joffe rebooting Hunchback of Notre Dame

FremantleMedia International and filmmaker Roland Joffé (The Mission) have joined forces to develop Ugly, a new version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. FMI said the new version will be a “vividly emotional and imaginative retelling of the world famous French gothic Victor Hugo novel”. There are no confirmed broadcasters and FMI said it will […]

Wuaki adds Hunger Games, Expendables

European streaming service Wuaki.tv has added Lionsgate UK-distributed movies such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Expendables. The deal with Lionsgate UK will give Wuaki hundreds of hours of feature films, including recent releases and classic movies such as Pulp Fiction. Wuaki already offers movies from Warner Bros., Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment and […]

Japanese pubcaster launching 8K in 2020

Japanese public broadcaster NHK will launch a full 8K service in 2020 to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics. As producers and broadcasters get to grips with the 4K format, NHK is pushing ahead with the even higher resolution standard. 8K gives a picture with 16 times the resolution of standard high definition TV and four […]

Scandi broadcasters buy World Cup doc

Sweden´s SVT, Finland’s YLE, and Denmark’s DR have acquired World Cup documentary special Mata Mata. Mata Mata (which translates as ‘Kill-Kill’, the Brazilian term for a knockout match) was originally produced by F24 Film for German pubcaster ARD. It follows three talented Brazilian soccer players – Danilo, Thiago and Dante – in the three years […]

Netflix orders trio of DreamWorks originals

Netflix has ordered three new kids series from DreamWorks Animation as part of the ongoing programming deal between the streaming service and kids studio. The lemur character from DreamWorks animated feature Madagascar will get his own series, King Julien, and there will also be a Puss in Boots series based on the classic story and […]

MarVista greenlights pop star docs

US-based producer and distributor Marvista Entertainment will launch a raft of new music docs internationally. Stateside producer EntertainMe US will make specials on Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson for Marvista, which will handle distribution. MarVista and EntertainMe have previously worked together when MarVista acquired a package of music specials including one […]

Zodiak Media appoints Russia CEO

Zodiak Media has appointed Laurent Saillard as CEO of Zodiak Vostok, its Russian division. Saillard joins the Russian arm of the production and distribution giant from free-to-air broadcaster Ren TV. He has also worked at TV firms including Endemol and Banijay. The CEO position was made vacant last October following the departure of Gennadij Kaganovitj. […]

Raft of executive changes at BBC Worldwide

BBC Worldwide has created a new role for a chief of its high growth markets amid a raft of changes that include its formats chief leaving and its international production chief relocating from London to Los Angeles. Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK public broadcaster the BBC, reorganised last year along regional lines with region-specific […]