Know What's Happening in Television
Know What's Happening in Television
China regulator urges TV dramas to ditch beauty obsession
China’s National Radio and Television Administration warned that TV dramas are overly fixated on physical beauty and chase traffic‑driven popularity, calling for stronger acting and storytelling. The warning was issued at a conference attended by major streamers including iQIYI, Tencent Video, Mango TV and Youku.
Formula One has extended its Australian broadcast partnership with Foxtel‑owned Kayo Sports, launching a multi‑year deal from the 2027 season. Foxtel will pay roughly AUS $60 million per year, up from the previous A$45 million arrangement, to deliver every race, qualifying and practice session on Kayo and Foxtel platforms. The agreement retains Network Ten as the free‑to‑air partner for the Australian Grand Prix and integrates the F1 TV app into Foxtel set‑top boxes. The extension follows a record‑breaking 2025 season on Kayo, driven by rising interest in local driver Oscar Piastri.
LA Screenings, the premier international TV marketplace, will take place on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15, 2026. Organizers have selected the SLS Hotel, a Luxury Collection property in Beverly Hills, as the official venue. After reviewing more than...
Disney CFO Hugh Johnston announced that Hulu will be merged into the Disney+ app in the United States by year‑end. The integration will combine watch histories and data to deliver sharper, personalized recommendations and a more customized homepage. Disney plans...
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) is expanding its 62,000‑square‑foot Washington Broadcast Center with three new television studios, a dedicated podcast studio, and newsroom spaces. The facilities will integrate directly into BMG’s Tier‑1 control rooms, 24/7 master‑control, REMI workflows, and its private...
BBC chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva announced she will leave the broadcaster in September, marking the third board‑level exit within four months. Tavaziva, who joined the BBC in 2021, oversaw its multi‑billion‑pound budget, production pipelines, and digital transformation. Her departure...
NBC has ordered a second season of the adventure‑travel competition "Destination X," hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The series, produced by Twofour and Universal Television Alternative Studio, topped summer ratings and attracted more than 20 million viewers across all platforms, becoming Peacock’s best‑performing...
Spanish systems integrator MoMe has launched the country’s first streaming‑optimised content delivery network, using Synamedia’s Fluid EdgeCDN platform. The service spans eight data centres, placing edge nodes close to viewers to minimise latency and improve reliability. Integrated ingest, encoding and...
German event series ‘The Widow Killer’ has secured multiple European distribution deals ahead of its German debut on ARD. Canal+ acquired rights for the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, while Sweden’s SVT purchased the series for its...
Fun fact: Paramount will now own 25% of the CW Network. CBS and Warner each held 12.5% stakes so...25%.
Apple TV+ has cancelled the Emmy‑nominated period dramedy Palm Royale after two seasons. The series, led by Kristen Wiig, concluded its second‑season finale on January 14, 2026, but will not return for a third. Despite critical praise, the show failed...
This is the problem with all legacy media streaming services - will be fascinating to see if David Ellison & team can change this narrative at $PSKY
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has named Raúl Rolo as Vice President and Regional Legal Counsel for Latin America, based in Mexico City. Rolo will report to Carla Sánchez‑Armas and Jesse Martin, overseeing the MPA’s IP protection and government‑relations strategy...
In 2012 Fox launched *The Finder* as a backdoor spin‑off of the hit series *Bones*. Despite a promising premise and a strong lead, the show debuted with a 1.7 rating and only 5.5 million viewers, far below its parent’s numbers. Ratings...
iKO Media Group has unveiled iKOSYSTEM, a unified broadcast operations platform that consolidates satellite, cloud, OTT, FAST and monitoring services into a single, secure environment. The solution offers single‑sign‑on access, role‑based permissions and a real‑time dashboard that provides engineers and...
Channel 4 Sales is relaunching its B Corp competition, offering £600,000 of free TV advertising to five certified UK B Corporations. Partnering with B Lab UK, the initiative follows a successful first year that boosted brand perception and sales for winners like Seep and Ticket Tailor....
Australian broadcasters ABC and Nine launched competing true‑crime documentaries on Jeffrey Epstein, drawing 780,000 and 766,000 viewers respectively. The strong ratings demonstrate significant audience appetite for investigative content, even as they trailed flagship reality shows like Married at First Sight....
Genuine q as I’m no economist: seems like plenty more media/tech layoffs incoming — Paramount/WBD, big tech w/AI, decline of trad media, etc — so an abundance of well paid people fighting for no jobs in markets that don’t want...
Matt Stone and Trey Parker first pitched an animated series centered on the crude character Mr. Hankey, but Fox executive Brian Graden rejected it, saying he wouldn’t put "poo" on his network. The creators re‑engineered the concept into a town‑based...
Friday: RedBird helps Paramount pry Warner Bros. away from Netflix. Monday: RedBird helps Artists Equity ink major streaming deal with Netflix.
In 2016 Netflix and Amazon Prime Video entered India amid Jio’s 4G rollout and a dramatic fall in data prices, turning a catch‑up TV market into a subscription‑driven ecosystem. Over the decade Netflix grew to roughly 16 million Indian subscribers and...
Getting Your Music Placed in TV Shows Like; Selling Sunset, Holiday Wars 📺 This is what you do ↴
Tessa Thompson is returning to Netflix to star in and executive‑produce the A24 series “Next Door,” created by Sam Boyd, the mind behind HBO’s hit “His & Hers.” In a separate development, a deckhand on the reality series “Deadliest Catch”...
I'm excited for @netflix's #Narnia movie for three reasons. 1. It's the streamer's biggest theatrical step 2. It will test franchise IP reactivation/fantasy hunger 3. I love Greta Gerwig See how the film is tracking and what it means for the industry. https://t.co/xij6SmW3BX
Stan has teamed up with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation to launch "Whale Shark Jack," a family‑focused feature set on Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef. The film stars Abbie Cornish, Michael Dorman and newcomer Alyla Browne, and follows a marine‑biologist family and their rescued...
Paramount Australia has promoted Helen Elliott to Queensland Ad Sales Director, taking over the portfolio after the untimely death of former leader Kat Droulers. Elliott joins the role having spent eight years as Head of TV Sales for Southern Cross...
Hulu has green‑lit the football‑centric drama “The Land,” pairing Chris Meloni as an NFL head coach with former “Blue Bloods” star Bridget Moynahan, who will play his ex‑wife and serve as a series regular. The series is created by Dan Fogelman, the mind...
This week’s cord‑cutter roundup highlights five cost‑saving offers across streaming, audio, power and TV accessories. Philo’s Core plan drops to $25 for new users, delivering HBO Max and Discovery+ at no extra charge. Bose’s QuietComfort headphones are discounted to $229, while...
Media executive Keith White is expanding his AfroAnimation education agenda in early 2026, launching a national lecture tour of his "Margin to Mainstream" series and developing a documentary on Black animation pioneers. He will also host AfroAnimation Summit 6.0 in...
Tale of Two Slide: Can Paramount Suceeed where Warner Bros Discovery Failed? Today: (Top) — $PSKY + $WBD 2021: (Bottom) — WarnerMedia+Discovery https://t.co/qQblRU5byq https://t.co/nR1QFgHVJU
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish‑language home of the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., announced a massive 700‑hour coverage slate that will air live for all 104 matches and run from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. The network will stream every game...
The owners of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings have launched Detroit SportsNet, a new regional sports network that will air Tigers games in 2026 and Red Wings games in 2027. The service will be distributed via cable, satellite and...
Paramount CEO David Ellison revealed his favorite HBO series—Game of Thrones—during a March 2 investor call, shortly after the $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery auction that merged the two giants. The combined Paramount‑WBD entity is being framed as a new media "kingdom"...
IvyBears, a leading European vitamin gummy brand, has debuted the first AI‑driven animated TV series for children, titled IvyBears. The show’s inaugural episode airs in April with new installments released monthly through the brand’s own channels. Production was handled by...
Thursday, February 26, 2026, saw a packed lineup of 18 new episodes spanning ABC, NBC, CBS and other major networks, including Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order SVU, and the reality series Going Dutch. Ratings were reported using Fast Affiliate Numbers, offering near‑real‑time...
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Season 27 continues to post solid numbers, matching its Season 26 average of a 0.35 rating in the 18‑49 demographic and roughly 3.79 million viewers. Nielsen’s live‑plus‑same‑day data shows the procedural remains one of NBC’s highest‑rated dramas,...
ABC’s procedural drama 9‑1‑1: Nashville completed its first season with mixed reception. The series earned an average viewer rating of 4.49 stars from 1,355 votes, while Nielsen’s live‑plus‑same‑day numbers have not been publicly disclosed. The franchise, which already includes the...
Fox’s live‑action sitcom Going Dutch returns for a second season after a modest first‑season performance. Season 1 posted a 0.15 rating in the 18‑49 demo and roughly 986,000 viewers, prompting the network to gamble on a renewal despite low numbers....
ESPN’s women’s sports programming chief, Susie Piotrkowski, called rookie star Caitlin Clark a “gateway drug” for attracting new fans to women’s sports. Even after Clark’s season‑ending injury, the WNBA saw a 3% viewership increase and recorded its most‑watched regular season...
Paramount Chairman David Ellison outlined a plan to merge HBO Max and Paramount+ after a $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a streaming platform with over 200 million subscribers. The combined entity will inherit blockbuster franchises such as Harry Potter, Lord...
John Silvester recalls that Channel Nine executives initially wanted the Melbourne crime saga to resemble the police‑focused series Blue Heelers. Eddie McGuire championed a grittier, Sopranos‑style approach, green‑lighting Underbelly, which became a ratings phenomenon and spawned multiple sequels. Eighteen years later...
DFS has partnered with ITV to embed its brand into the 19th season of Britain’s Got Talent, featuring 10‑second TV commercials and bespoke sofas on set. The campaign includes an Amanda Holden‑branded sofa collection, social media sponsorship, and a competition...
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch warned that U.S. regulators will likely attach a third‑party content‑licensing condition to the $110 billion Paramount‑Warner Bros. Discovery merger. He also noted that CNN, under David Ellison, will continue to challenge Fox News as a strong competitor....
DAZN is positioning itself to bid for a domestic NFL package as the league prepares for its next round of broadcast negotiations. The streamer already distributes NFL Game Pass internationally and saw a 24% subscription increase in 2025, signaling appetite...
Paramount announced two senior hires ahead of its upcoming upfront: Danielle Carney, former Amazon Ads head of live sports and video sales, will become head of U.S. ad sales, and Chris Brady, ex‑Tribeca Enterprises president, will serve as EVP of...
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch says he expects Paramount-Warner to continue to sell content to third parties and anticipates that will be a condition of the deal.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch says at Morgan Stanley conference, "We don’t believe in scale for scales sake, we don’t believe you need to get bigger to get better."
At Streaming Media Connect, Chris Pfaff led a panel on the rapid rise of vertical microdramas on free streaming platforms. Panelists highlighted how mobile‑first viewing, bingeable formats and AI‑driven production are turning short‑form vertical series into a potential mass‑media staple....
Fox executives initially expected Chris Carter to pitch a family or teen soap, not a high‑concept sci‑fi thriller. The network was hesitant because it lacked a comparable drama and feared the genre’s risk. Carter’s detailed 15‑page pitch and his insistence...
Paramount plans to merge its Paramount+ service with HBO Max once its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closes, creating a single streaming platform with over 200 million direct‑to‑consumer subscribers. The combined service will sit between Netflix’s 325 million global base and...
The cult‑favorite series Dispatches from Elsewhere has landed on the UK’s ad‑supported streaming service ITVX, joining its existing homes on Prime Video and Netflix. The ten‑episode, mind‑bending thriller, starring Jason Segel, Sally Field, André 3000 and Richard E Grant, draws on the real‑world augmented‑reality game...
