News


Watch gets acquainted with Boston’s Finest

UK pay TV channel Watch has acquired Boston’s Finest, a reality series focusing on the East Coast city’s law enforcement officers. UKTV-owned Watch will launch the 8x60mins series, which debuted on Time Warner-owned TNT and Endemol Worldwide Distribution shops on the international market, in mid-August. The series is billed as a “dramatic journey into the […]

Hulu parents scrap sale, inject $750m

Hulu’s US broadcaster owners have scrapped the sale of the streaming website for a second time and will instead recapitalise it, though reports say they remain in talks with Time Warner Cable over a 25% stake. The Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox on Friday revealed they had decided against selling Hulu to the […]

Lohan gets OWN reality series

Discovery-backed Oprah Winfrey Network has given Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan her own eight-part reality series. The troubled former child star has made headlines over the past few years due to a string of legal problems and reports of drugs and alcohol abuse. OWN founder Oprah Winfrey will interview her about her attempts to rebuild her […]

Future of Spanish Jersey Shore questioned

The Spanish version of Jersey Shore has been cancelled, according to local reports. The local version, Gandia Shore, was announced late last year. Shot in the party town of Gandia on the Valencia coast, the series launched last autumn on the Spanish MTV channel. It was made by Magnolia, which also made the Spanish version […]

More people working in UK media but concerns over ethnic diversity

New data shows that the number of people working in the TV and creative media industries has risen, but there are concerns about the small proportion of people in the sector from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities. A report on the UK media sector from Creative Skillset, a government and industry-backed group, shows that the […]

Al Jazeera linked to move for Spain’s Mediapro

Al Jazeera is in talks to acquire Spanish producer Mediapro, according to local reports. The Qatari state funded broadcaster has been aggressively rolling out channels internationally and has also been acquiring key sports rights. A deal for Mediapro would give Al Jazeera rights to several key soccer clubs and competitions including games from Barcelona and […]

Mediacorp strikes 1,000-hour Asian programming deal

The programme sales arm of Singaporean broadcaster MediaCorp has sold a 1,000-hour package of content to Vietnam’s Goldia One Vision. The Vietnamese media company has taken terrestrial and pay TV rights to all of MediaCorp’s scripted series. MediaCorp also announced other programming deals with Vietnamese partners. It said it has also shopped 350 hours of […]

News brief: WotWots returning to Channel 5

UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 has ordered a second series of animated kids series The WotWots. The first series of the preschool show went out last year on the broadcaster’s Milkshake! kids strand and it will return for a second outing, starting in August. The series, which follows two siblings from outer space, SpottyWot and […]

Sloan, Sagansky launch new investment vehicle with $250m IPO

Industry veterans Harry E. Sloan and Jeff Sagansky are launching a new company, Silver Eagle Acquisition Corp., on the back of a US$250 million initial public offering. The pair has formed the company two years after they raised US$190 million for their Global Eagle Acquisition imprint, which is sponsoring the new venture. The IPO comprises […]

New cable channel buys international comedy drama

An Australian comedy drama will anchor the launch evening of Participant Media’s new US cable channel Pivot. Please Like Me, which is inspired by the awkward real-life experiences of Aussie comic Josh Thomas, will launch on the channels’ debut evening on August 1 with six back-to-back episodes at 8pm ET. The first episode of the […]