Television News and Headlines
Television News and Headlines
Fremantle has named Ben Crompton as its new Global Head of Entertainment, effective later this month, reporting directly to Global CEO Jennifer Mullin. Crompton arrives from NBCUniversal, where he served as Vice President of International Unscripted, and brings a track record of launching and managing format-driven productions across major platforms. He succeeds Andrew Llinares at a time when Fremantle delivered 345 commissions in 62 territories during 2025, reinforcing its leadership in global entertainment formats. The appointment coincides with an expanded slate unveiled at the London Screenings.
Amagi’s March 2026 Airtime Report shows FAST (Free Ad‑Supported Streaming TV) viewership rising 21% YoY in Q4 2025, with ad impressions up 27%. The growth was strongest in LATAM, where hours of viewing jumped 66% and ad impressions 77%. A survey of...
German broadcaster Sportdigital has secured broadcast rights to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, beginning coverage with the quarter‑finals in Australia. The 12‑team tournament also serves as the Asian qualification pathway for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, granting direct berths...
Streaming giants are adding conversion APIs (CAPIs) to bring performance‑driven measurement to connected TV. Netflix unveiled its CAPI alongside new targeting options, while Roku and Comcast have introduced self‑serve APIs aimed at SMB advertisers. CAPIs promise to bridge the attribution...
Streaming giants are bringing conversion APIs (CAPIs) to connected TV as advertisers demand measurable performance. Netflix unveiled its CAPI alongside new targeting options, while Roku, Comcast and LinkedIn already provide similar APIs for CTV measurement. CAPIs promise to close the...
Australian adventurer‑chef Mario Kalpou is filming "Deadliest Dinners," an eight‑part documentary series for Binge/Foxtel. The show follows Kalpou as he ventures into some of Australia’s most hazardous landscapes to hunt wild, often dangerous ingredients. He collaborates with Indigenous custodians and...
DAZN is adding All Elite Wrestling pay‑per‑view events to its global sports lineup, excluding India. The first title‑fight, AEW Revolution, streams on March 15, followed by Dynasty, Double or Nothing, and All In later in the year. Viewers can buy each event...
Nine announced that veteran journalist Georgie Gardner will leave the network after nearly 25 years of service. She began in 2002 as a weather presenter and morning news reader, later anchoring the Today Show and the 6pm weekend bulletin in...
Thursday’s VOZ ratings show the NRL’s Round 2 clash between Brisbane and Parramatta pulling 772,000 average viewers, edging out the AFL’s Round 1 Carlton‑Richmond game at 675,000. Seven Network captured the night with a 30.9% total‑TV share and a 31.3% consolidated share,...
Mark Wahlberg’s 2016 disaster epic *Deepwater Horizon* has resurfaced as a streaming hit on Netflix, despite its original $150 million budget and a $112 million box‑office loss. The film, which earned two Oscar nominations, now ranks among the most‑watched titles on Netflix’s...
Court TV is undergoing a major restructuring after its sale to Jellysmack’s Law&Crime Network, announcing sweeping layoffs and a reduced on‑air schedule. Anchor Julie Grant and crime correspondent Matt Johnson are among the high‑profile departures, while roughly two dozen behind‑the‑scenes...
Netflix ANZ’s director of marketing Tony Broderick champions "uncomfortably exciting" creative risks, exemplified by the large‑scale Wednesday Island event that turned Cockatoo Island into a fan festival. He emphasizes a title‑led strategy where bold cultural moments drive broader business metrics,...
Apple’s senior VP of Services Eddy Cue announced that viewership for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix on Apple TV+ rose year‑over‑year, surpassing both Formula 1 and Apple’s expectations. While exact numbers were not disclosed, the increase follows Apple’s acquisition of U.S....
Netflix’s new action film “War Machine,” starring Alan Ritchson, topped the Samba TV weekly Wrap Report chart with 7 million households watching in its first three days. The movie marks the platform’s second major action hit of 2026, following the thriller...
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an open investigation into Paramount’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that federal antitrust enforcement has receded. Bonta said the state could file suit or join other AGs to block the deal, citing...
Senior media executive Alexander Needs announced he will leave Nine Entertainment after a 24‑year tenure. His career at Nine evolved from ACP magazine publishing to live‑TV roles on A Current Affair and Today, culminating in leading the network’s digital video and social...
Illumination, Nintendo and Universal expect The Super Mario Galaxy Movie to open with more than $160 million in its first five domestic days, positioning it as the biggest box‑office performer of 2026 so far. The sequel surpasses the 2023 Mario Bros launch, which earned $204.6 million...
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has formally asked the Department of Justice to block the $111 billion Paramount‑Warner Bros. merger unless enforceable worker protections are included. Union leaders highlighted concerns that the deal could trigger layoffs and diminish domestic production for...
Hart Hanson, creator of "Bones," said he expected the spin‑off "The Finder" to struggle, and the series indeed faltered after one season. Fans of the original procedural were skeptical of new characters and resisted the backdoor pilot that introduced Walter...
Netflix’s legal drama “The Lincoln Lawyer” reclaimed the Nielsen streaming top spot for the week of Feb 9‑15, amassing 2.54 billion minutes across its 40 episodes, with 74 % of that consumption coming from the freshly released Season 4. HBO Max’s “The Pitt” secured...
Premeditated Productions has secured a five‑year extension of its first‑look deal with Amazon MGM Studios, extending the partnership through summer 2032. Launched in 2024 as the production arm of Entangled Publishing, Premeditated has already greenlit over a dozen adaptations of New York Times...
Globo will present a diverse slate of scripted and unscripted series at Series Mania, Europe’s leading TV‑series market event. The lineup includes the telenovela "The Life We Lead," the horror‑fantasy "Blood Red – Under the Moonlight," and reality formats like...
Netflix announced a scripted series chronicling the lives of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The drama adapts French author Claire Berest’s biography and will be directed by Patricia Riggen and Gabriel Ripstein, with María Renée Prudencio as head writer. Production is in early...
DIRECTV is rolling out an in‑app Sports Central hub and a dedicated March Madness Multiview Mix for both satellite and streaming subscribers. The Multiview Mix lets fans watch up to four games simultaneously in a 4‑box layout during the early...
The X Games unveiled its first MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Draft on March 14 at Cosm Los Angeles, marking the transition to a year‑round, global, team‑based competition. Forty of the world’s top action‑sport athletes were drafted into four city‑named...
Dropout, the comedy‑focused streaming service that grew out of CollegeHumor, is entering scripted animation with its debut series "Toonout." The short‑form show launches on March 24 and will run 25 episodes, releasing new installments every other Tuesday through February 23, 2027. Production taps...
Screenrights, the copyright collective for Australian and New Zealand screen creators, has opened applications for its 2026 Cultural Fund round, allocating up to $300,000 in total funding. Grants of up to $50,000 will support projects that use screen storytelling to enhance...
Zephyr Animation, part of Madgic Group, has greenlit the preschool series Mogu & Perol, a 39‑episode 7‑minute 3DCG show co‑produced with Japan’s dwarf studios and Taiwan’s Aries Creative. Production will commence this month at France’s 2 Minutes studio, with delivery scheduled...
YouTube TV has added the Golf Channel to its 4K lineup, available through the optional 4K Plus add‑on. The upgrade costs an additional $9.99 per month on top of the $82.99 base plan and unlocks unlimited streams and offline downloads. The...
Vicky McClure’s three‑part thriller *The Replacement* will disappear from Netflix on 19 March, ending a year‑long streaming window. The BBC drama, which debuted in 2017, has earned a perfect 100 % Rotten Tomatoes rating from eleven critics, drawing praise for its Hitchcock‑style tension and...
Hearst Media Production Group announced that Bryan Curb will assume the role of president on July 1, succeeding retiring founder Frank Biancuzzo. Curb, currently executive vice president and general manager of educational and informational programming, brings over a decade of...
Katz Media Group’s recent two‑week membership drive generated more than $45,000 for the Broadcasters Foundation of America, bringing its cumulative contributions since the program’s start to nearly $550,000. The funds support the Stu Olds Memorial Fund, which provides emergency medical and...
Warm Springs Productions announced the launch of Steadfast Collective, a new faith‑based film and television banner. The banner will produce a range of formats—including docudramas, reality series, micro‑dramas and feature films—for global audiences. Executives Bridger Pierce and David L. Cunningham...
ABC World News Tonight retained its position as the nation’s most‑watched evening newscast during the week of March 2, 2026, drawing 8.901 million total viewers and a 7% rise in the coveted Adults 25‑54 demographic. NBC Nightly News posted solid gains, up 2% in...
Letter writers argue that the BBC’s traditional TV licence fee is increasingly untenable, citing a 12.5% non‑compliance rate and a 30% drop in funding during 2024‑25. They propose replacing the licence with a hypothecated council‑tax levy, similar to Switzerland’s universal...
Disney Advertising announced that its entire ad inventory for the 98th Oscars has been sold out, driven by strong marketplace demand after last year’s broadcast. The company raised 30‑second spot prices to $1.7‑$2.3 million, a double‑digit increase over 2024, and secured...
Google and Range Media Partners have unveiled the 100 ZEROS initiative, a slate of microdramas created by veteran TV producers such as Mike Fleiss, Simon Fuller and McG. The vertical‑video series will debut on the Google TV app for Android...
"Half Man," a six‑episode drama created by Richard Gadd, will debut on HBO Max in April 2026. The series, co‑produced with the BBC, streams across the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and airs on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and BBC Scotland...
Five years into its record $111 billion TV and streaming agreement, the NFL has reopened negotiations to secure a larger share of broadcast revenue. The league’s move follows the NBA’s recent $75 billion rights deal, which set a new market benchmark. Analysts...
Sky Sports has entered a new PGA TOUR rights cycle, establishing a permanent production hub inside PGA TOUR Studios. The arrangement gives Sky two commentators and an on‑course reporter direct access to the world feed, while also providing permanent transmission...
PBS CEO Paula Kerger urged the Arkansas TV commission to pause its planned disaffiliation from the national PBS network, arguing the decision should involve public input. Arkansas TV, citing unsustainable dues after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting lost federal funding, voted...
Comcast’s Xfinity is teaming with NBC Sports and Golf Channel to broadcast THE PLAYERS Championship in RealTime4K, a low‑latency 4K format that arrived up to 49 seconds faster than conventional streams. The launch also introduces two interactive features: Fan View,...
BIScience has launched the TV Intelligence Suite, extending its AdClarity platform to include U.S. linear TV data. The upgrade lets customers monitor more than $174 billion in digital ad spend and $51 billion in linear TV spend from a single interface. Coverage...
The Ministry of Culture released a second list of nominees for the eighth board of Taiwan’s publicly funded broadcaster, Public Television Service (PTS). The slate includes former baseball star Peng Cheng‑min and gymnast Lee Chih‑kai alongside leaders from online education,...
Period crime drama "Ripper Street" will be removed from Netflix on March 26, ending its streaming availability after a year on the platform. The BBC‑originated series follows Detective Inspector Edmund Reid and his team as they investigate Whitechapel crimes from...
Rakuten TV Enterprise has launched LIVE, a new European event series focused on connected TV and streaming executives. The inaugural edition will take place in Madrid on March 17, gathering over 150 senior leaders from advertising, media agencies, platforms, studios...
RTL Group reported a 3.8% drop in total revenues to €6.02 billion, but announced that its streaming portfolio is poised to become profitable this year after nearing break‑even at the end of 2025. Subscriber numbers rose to 8.06 million in 2025 and...
Canal+ Africa warned that DStv’s steep entry price is stalling subscriber growth in Anglophone Africa. Installation costs average €38 per household, nearly three times the €13 seen in Canal+‑run Francophone markets, contributing to a drop from 14.9 million to 14.4 million subscribers...
Nielsen unveiled a new upfront planning guide that offers a granular look at ad‑supported TV viewership across linear, FAST and AVOD platforms, with a focus on the 18‑49 demographic and sports audiences. The study shows adults 18‑49 allocate 63.8% of...
Tim Burrowes’ Unmade Index, which monitors 14 Australian listed media firms, has recorded a more than 60% drop in total market value since its launch in early 2022, underscoring a deepening media apocalypse. The latest Mumbrellacast episode also dissects the...
