Television News and Headlines
Television News and Headlines
Claes Bang, known for Bad Sisters, joins Netflix’s live‑action Assassin’s Creed series as a series regular. Filming has begun in Rome, with the story set in 64 AD during the Roman Empire. The show features an expanding ensemble that includes Nabhaan Rizwan, Lola Petticrew, Toby Wallace and several recurring stars. Creators Roberto Patino and David Wiener serve as showrunners while Emmy‑winner Johan Renck directs the high‑octane thriller.
Veteran news director Jeremy Pudney has exited 9 News Adelaide after an eight‑year tenure and a three‑decade career across Australia’s major broadcasters. He will assume the role of Director of Media and Communications at Flinders University. The newsroom’s top post...
Spanish time‑travel thriller *Timecrimes* is exiting HBO Max on April 1, 2026 after a brief streaming window. The 2008 film, directed by Nacho Vigalondo, boasts a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and has cultivated a dedicated cult following. It delivers a tightly‑woven...
Jason Statham’s 2024 action film “The Beekeeper” is experiencing a strong streaming resurgence, re‑entering Amazon’s global top‑10 list. The movie originally cost about $40 million to produce and earned over $160 million worldwide, prompting Amazon to greenlight a sequel with a new director....
Shark Tank India concluded its fifth season with a campus‑special episode, featuring 152 pitches and 73 startups securing funding. The sharks collectively committed Rs 94.88 crore, with Aman Gupta leading the pack by investing Rs 24.6 crore across 23 ventures. Namita Thapar and Anupam...
YouTube TV has broadened its device ecosystem, now supporting hundreds of smart TVs and streaming players across major brands. The rollout includes Android TV, Google TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio, Hisense, Sharp, Sony, as well as Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV,...
On Saturday 21 March 2026, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup final became the top‑rated program in Australia’s TV ratings. The match attracted approximately 10 million viewers across broadcast and BVOD platforms, outpacing all other shows in the Overnight Top 30 and Consolidated 7...
Nathan Fillion announced an animated revival of Joss Whedon's cult series *Firefly*, but clarified it will not continue the story after the 2005 film *Serenity*. The new series is planned as a pre‑Serenity bubble where all original crew members are alive,...
Actor John Stamos, now chief innovation officer of streaming startup Zeam, used his SXSW appearance—where he debated live‑streaming his first tattoo—to illustrate the company’s mission of delivering authentic, real‑time content. Zeam equips local TV stations with technology to broadcast events...
Sega has released the three‑episode live‑action drama *Yakuza Powered by Nihon Touitsu* on its official YouTube channel, making it available worldwide for free. The series is a joint effort between Ryu Ga Gotoku (RGG) Studio and the creators of the...
Paramount+ has officially renewed the neo‑western series The Madison for a second season. Production wrapped in September at a 450,000‑sq‑ft campus in Fort Worth, Texas, and the episodes are considered a continuation, possibly labeled as “Part 2.” While the streaming service...
HBO revived Lisa Kudrow’s satire *The Comeback* for a third season, debuting 11½ years after its second installment and more than two decades after the original. The new season tackles AI‑generated scripts and the 2023 WGA strike, positioning the show...
Starz announced a 7% workforce reduction, affecting fewer than 40 employees, as it continues to reshape after its 2025 spinoff from Lionsgate. The cuts are part of a broader effort to reallocate resources toward a pure‑play streaming model and lower...
A wave of layoffs continues to sweep Hollywood and the broader media sector, with companies from Amazon and Warner Bros. to smaller studios like Blocks shedding tens of thousands of jobs since early 2025. The cuts, driven by lingering pandemic...
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has officially endorsed the Trump administration’s National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, praising its focus on strong copyright protections. The White House’s six‑pronged plan seeks uniform national AI standards and preempts state‑level regulations. Hollywood studios...
Netflix is reviving the comic‑book series Powers as an animated series. The property previously aired two seasons on Sony’s PlayStation Network, starring Sharlto Copley and Susan Heyward. Creators Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming are attached to write and...
Simpson Street Productions, founded by Kerry Washington and Pilar Savone, selected Apple TV’s thriller “Imperfect Women” as its latest project, drawn by the novel’s specific character focus that enables universal storytelling. The series, adapted from Araminta Hall’s 2020 novel, follows...
Disney-owned ABC pulled Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette after new domestic‑violence allegations and a viral bar‑stool incident. The network now faces a vacant Sunday night slot and must quickly replace the show to protect advertising revenue. The article...
Pluto TV is celebrating William Shatner’s 95th birthday with a week‑long Star Trek takeover, launching a pop‑up category from March 20 to April 3 that features six dedicated channels. On March 22, the Star Trek Channel runs an all‑day marathon, the Motion Pictures...
Newsmax founder Chris Ruddy testified at a February Senate Commerce Committee hearing to oppose Nexstar Media Group’s $4.5 billion merger with TEGNA. He aimed to present himself as a Capitol Hill influencer after failing to sway President Trump and FCC Chairman...
A TripleLift study finds that 49 % of connected‑TV (CTV) ads still use traditional 15‑ and 30‑second spots designed for linear television, despite record streaming viewership and ad spend. High‑impact formats such as pause ads, overlays, and native units boost brand...
Peacock leveraged three major live‑sports events in February— the Milan‑Cortina Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX, and the NBA All‑Star Game—to drive a surge in subscriptions. The streamer added 5.2 million U.S. sign‑ups and a record 4.9 million paid subscribers, accounting for 34 % of...
This weekend’s streaming charts were dominated by animation, with Netflix’s anime‑style series *Steel Ball Run* topping its series list, Amazon Prime Video’s superhero cartoon *Invincible* leading its own chart, and Disney+ streaming the family‑friendly sequel *Zootopia 2* as its number‑one movie. All three...
Graham Media Group has promoted Stephanie Slagle to vice president, chief revenue officer and general manager of Detroit’s NBC affiliate WDIV Local 4. Slagle, who previously served as the company’s CRO, brings more than three decades of experience building digital agencies...
The Television Bureau’s 2026 Sports Survey shows 90 % of U.S. sports fans deem free local broadcast TV essential, with three‑quarters watching broadcast sports at least twice a week. Preference spans football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, auto racing and tennis....
California’s SB 576 now obliges streaming ads to match the perceived volume of surrounding content, shifting compliance responsibility to the platforms that deliver the ads. The rule exposes a split in ad‑tech workflows: client‑side insertion (CSAI) offers little control over audio,...
Filmart and EntertainmentPulse concluded after four days, drawing roughly 8,000 industry professionals from 53 countries. The fairs hosted a record 790 exhibitors representing 38 nations, featuring an AI Hub with 19 workshops and a Producers Connect program that gathered over...
Netflix and Warner Music Group announced a strategic partnership to produce documentary series and feature films centered on WMG’s artists and songwriters. The collaboration will be executed through Unigram, WMG’s production arm, which will develop each project with the artists...
Electric Entertainment will relaunch its ElectricNOW app on April 16, adding a suite of new features and a broader content catalog. The upgrade introduces the platform’s first original scripted series, *The Poly Couple*, a half‑hour comedy about a polyamorous couple in...
Lion Forge Entertainment announced it has acquired the television rights to Kimberly Ann Harrison’s debut novel *Beyond the Paddock* and will develop it into a young‑adult series. The story follows two foster‑care teens who move from Los Angeles to Kentucky,...
UEFA is planning a direct‑to‑consumer Champions League streaming platform for Asia, targeting a launch as early as the 2027‑2031 media rights cycle. The initiative, developed with partner Relevent, could debut in markets such as Indonesia or India, either supplementing or...
SeriesMakers, the Series Mania Institute’s talent incubator partnered with Beta Group, has unveiled the ten projects selected for its fourth edition. The slate includes dramas, comedies, thrillers, fantasy and political series from Brazil, Canada, Spain, France, Ireland, the Czech Republic,...
Canal+ and private equity firm PPF, each holding about 29.3% of Viaplay after a 2024 rescue recapitalisation, are exploring a joint move to take the Nordic streamer private. The speculation lifted Viaplay’s share price by roughly 5% despite its four‑year...
The 2026 World Baseball Classic final between Venezuela and the United States set a new viewership record, attracting 10.78 million viewers on FOX and FOX Deportes. The telecast peaked at 12.15 million during the closing minutes and posted a 128% increase over...
Comcast‑owned FreeWheel unveiled an AI agent infrastructure to automate premium video ad transactions, anchored by its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server and a suite of Intelligence tools. The MCP Server provides a secure layer for AI agents to connect directly...
Sky has begun a “Taste of Hayu” preview, making more than 150 on‑demand episodes from ten reality franchises available to most TV customers via Sky’s platforms. The early offering excludes Sky Q Essentials and Basic tiers, while the full Hayu...
Sport Klub channels will cease broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 April 2025, replaced by an expanded suite of Arena Sport services. The change follows Telekom Srbija’s February 2025 acquisition of Sport Klub’s rights, licences and assets from United Group across the Western Balkans....
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced it will wind down Pixomondo, the award‑winning visual effects and virtual production studio it bought in 2022. The closure will affect several hundred staff, with many slated for transfer to Sony Group and the remainder facing...
The Premier League announced it will launch its own OTT platform, Premier League Plus, in Singapore starting the 2026‑27 season. The service was built into a six‑season bid with StarHub in 2022, providing a low‑pressure test market ahead of the league’s...
In 2010 CBS and Turner struck a $10.8 billion agreement to share NCAA men’s tournament rights, propelling TBS and TNT ad sales to $1.62 billion in year one and $2.26 billion by 2016. Despite record sports revenue, cable penetration fell 10 % over six...
Big East commissioner Val Ackerman confirmed that the conference’s new $80 million six‑year media agreement with Fox, NBC and TNT Sports has boosted revenue but fragmented game distribution. The deal replaces a $46 million 12‑year pact and moves 30 men’s games and...
Altman Solon’s second‑part Global Sports Survey reveals a widening monetisation gap for sports rights owners as audiences increasingly consume non‑live formats. The study of 6,000 fans and 250 executives shows 42% of viewers are very willing to pay for live events...
Channel 4 announced that Autotrader will become the new sponsor of The Great British Bake Off, taking over from Waitrose after a two‑year partnership. The deal kicks off with the 2026 broadcast season, aligning the automotive marketplace with the show’s...
Netflix has begun filming its live‑action Assassin’s Creed series, confirmed by Ubisoft. The show will be set in Ancient Rome during 64 AD and features a diverse cast led by Toby Wallace and Lola Petticrew. Produced by Emmy‑nominated creators Roberto Patino...
The RTS Technology Centre hosted a London event spotlighting inclusive production, where disabled filmmaker Chris Lynch showcased his Caerus wheelchair‑camera system and called for industry‑wide leadership. Panelists highlighted that accessible technologies now exist, but production workflows still treat accessibility as...
Connected TV (CTV) ad spend in the U.S. is set to near $38 bn this year, cementing its role as a core media channel. However, the rapid expansion of premium SVOD, FAST channels, and OEM interfaces has fragmented the supply, making...
Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for 2025 identified the top‑performing internet providers across four key markets. Telus Fiber (Canada), LG U+ (South Korea), Virgin (UK) and Optimum Fiber (US) each delivered a monthly average streaming speed of 3.37 Mbps, the highest recorded. Nine additional ISPs,...
America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) has launched direct and programmatic buying for its free ad‑supported FAST channels, allowing advertisers to purchase inventory as a standalone product rather than through genre bundles. The move follows a 30% year‑over‑year rise in streaming audiences...
Autotrader has secured a six‑month broadcast sponsorship of Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off franchise, covering the new Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C, Bake Off: The Professionals and all streaming episodes. The deal, brokered by media agency The Specialist Works, introduces branded idents featuring...
ForgeVision Technologies has unveiled Storyboard Analytics, a new module that automatically evaluates animation storyboards shot by shot. The tool flags complexity drivers such as character density, camera moves, crowd scenes, and visual effects, giving producers early visibility into production demands....
