ABC


First international broadcast deal for Stan Lee’s Mighty 7

ABC in Australia has become the first international buyer of comic book-inspired toon movie trilogy Stan Lee’s Mighty 7. It will broadcast on children’s channel ABC3 later this year following a deal with distributor PGS Entertainment. Mighty 7 comes drom Stan Lee Comics, a newly-formed joint venture between Genius Brands International, Lee’s POW! Entertainment and […]

Oz net joins Time Scanners team

Australia’s ABC has become the first prebuyer of upcoming history and science series Time Scanners. The 6x60mins factual show comes from UK producer Atlantic Productions and was commissioned by National Geographic Channels International, with US pubcaster PBS and France Televisions also attached as coproducers. ABC is now also onboard. The show uses high-end 3D laser-scanning […]

The Writers’ Room sells in 114 territories

The first season of Sundance Channel’s The Writers’ Room has been sold into over 114 territories. The series, hosted by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Jim Rash, takes viewers inside the writers room of popular television shows, and has been picked up in Australia by ABC, Sky’s SoHo in New Zealand, Sky Italia and Spain’s DTS. Electronic […]

News brief: ABC goes for seventh Wipeout

US broadcaster ABC has commissioned a seventh season of Endemol obstacle course format Wipeout. The new season will include a ‘Tournament of Champions’ event, bringing together previous season winners to compete for the first time. Endemol USA is producing, with creator Matt Kunitz, plus Scott Larsen, Trice Barto, J. Rupert Thompson, and Kevin Wehrenberg executive […]

Reilly: Fox will bypass pilot season

US network Fox has declared itself out of the pilots game. Appearing at the net’s Television Critics Association tour presentation, the 21st Century Fox-owned broadcaster’s chairman, entertainment, Kevin Reilly unveiled a slide reading, ‘R.I.P. Fox “Pilot season”, 1986-2013’ and declared: “We are going to be bypassing pilot season.” This not the first time a US […]

ABC devalues Assets but Cold War entices BBC America

US broadcaster ABC has pulled its period drama The Assets amid poor ratings, while cable channel BBC America has greenlit a separate Cold War scripted series. The Assets, which comes from Lincoln Square Productions and is based on a non-fiction book about the CIA, has been cancelled after two episodes following dismal ratings. However, dramas […]

Funding round scores broadcaster threat Aereo $34m

Over-the-air US retransmission service Aereo has secured US$34 million in its latest funding round to support “rapid nationwide expansion and increased investments”. The news comes ahead of a key legal ruling in its battle against the US broadcasters over the legality of the service. After the Series C funding round, Aereo now counts respected media […]

Analysis: OTT to the rescue…

…or how streaming services are saving TV series and allowing others to get made. Pay TV operators are living in fear of people dumping their services for streaming equivalents such as Netflix or Amazon/Lovefilm. Their concerns will not have been assuaged this year as both launched a raft of premium, original content that won plaudits, […]

ABC Australia rejigs management, ditches controller roles

Australian public broadcaster the ABC has reorganised its senior management structure and is dispensing with the role of individual channel controllers. From 2014 the new structure will mean that a ‘head of programming’ position will replace the individual channel controller positions. Two channel managers will assist the new programming chief. Brendan Dahill, currently head of […]

Foxtel takes First place

Foxtel’s director of programmes Brian Walsh tells Jesse Whittock about the Australian pay TV leader’s content wishes, tackling online piracy through new services and plans for its upcoming BBC-branded premium channel. Next year will mark a significant milestone in the history of Australian television when pay TV platform Foxtel becomes the official content partner of […]

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