Television News and Headlines
Television News and Headlines
Talpa Studios announced that Marloes Sturkenboom will assume the role of Managing Director Global IP, Strategy and Operations on April 1, 2026. The veteran media executive arrives with more than 15 years of experience in content acquisition, business affairs, and strategic partnerships from RTL Nederland, Disney EMEA, FOX Sports and Fremantle. Her mandate is to integrate IP strategy, development and dealmaking with the global distribution team, accelerating the rollout of Talpa's non‑scripted formats worldwide. The hire follows a recently sharpened corporate strategy aimed at expanding Talpa Studios' position as a leading creator and distributor of format‑driven content.
HBO Max and Prime Video have added high‑profile keynotes to the Series Mania Forum in Lille on March 24, 2026. Prime Video’s session, led by Nicole Morganti and Thomas Dubois, will spotlight the platform’s 2026 slate of non‑English International Originals...
BetWright, a UK‑licensed online bookmaker launched in December 2024, has signed a sponsorship deal with Sky Sports Racing. The agreement places BetWright branding on idents during the channel’s live horse‑racing broadcasts across the UK and Ireland. The partnership is the latest in a...
GB News has appointed Ross Sergeant as chief revenue officer to bridge the gap between its rapidly expanding audience and advertising sales. Sergeant arrives from Allwyn, where he served as global media director, and brings experience from Asahi, Diageo and...
Gravity Media has launched a remote production gallery in Covent Garden to support ITV Studios’ MultiStory Media output, delivering 900 hours of live daily programming across shows like Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women. The facility features a 360‑degree LED set, 13...
The Royal Television Society Technology Centre is hosting an event titled “Accessible by design—How inclusive production is transforming the screen industries” on 12 March. The program will showcase CAERUS, the world’s first wheelchair‑based camera system, and feature a panel with founder...
ESPN’s March 3 spring‑training game between Team USA and the San Francisco Giants attracted 677,000 viewers, the network’s most‑watched spring‑training broadcast in a decade. The matchup lifted ESPN’s 2026 spring‑training average to 580,000, a 101 % increase over 2025, according to Nielsen. The surge...
Mandy Chang, former head of BBC Storyville and senior executive at Fremantle, has been appointed the first chief executive of the UK Documentary Film Council (DFC). The council, launched in 2023 as a member‑owned body, is entering a critical growth...
Foos Gone Wild and Combate Global announced a new amateur MMA series called Foos Fighting Championship, debuting March 26 in Burbank, California. The event will be broadcast live in Spanish on EstrellaTV and in English on Foos Gone Wild’s YouTube channel,...
Sportz Interactive (SI) has teamed with the WRC Promoter to launch an interactive Rally Predictor on Rally.TV, built on SI’s proprietary Predictor Engine. The tool lets fans forecast stage results, driver performance and head‑to‑head battles throughout the World Rally Championship...
UKTV has struck a new partnership with Samsung that places its free linear channels on Samsung’s internet‑only TV platform across the UK. The agreement creates a dedicated rail on Samsung’s home screen and deep‑links the U app through the Universal...
wedotv has introduced its documentary channel wedotv BIG stories on Freeview UK, occupying channel 275, while wedotv movies now broadcasts as a full DTT channel on slot 98. Both services are built on Synapse’s FAST architecture, server‑side ad insertion and...
Roland Weißmann stepped down as Director General of Austria’s public broadcaster ORF after a staff member accused him of sexual harassment, allegations he denies. The ORF Foundation Council will install Radio Director Ingrid Thurnher as interim chief, with a plenary...
Pegasus 3 continued to dominate the Chinese market over the March 6‑8 weekend, pulling in RMB 168.9 million ($23.8 million) in its third full weekend. The racing‑comedy’s cumulative gross now stands at $578.7 million, putting it on track to breach the $600 million milestone. Competing releases such...
Senior YouTube executives will appear before the UK Culture, Media and Sport Committee on March 10 to answer questions about the platform’s role in children’s television and video consumption. Ofcom data shows YouTube is now the most‑used app or site among...
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most lucrative film isn’t a sci‑fi or action blockbuster—it’s the 1988 comedy *Twins*, which grossed $112 million domestically. Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and director Ivan Reitman forwent upfront salaries, instead taking a 40 percent share of the film’s backend profits. That profit‑participation deal...
Sky Media has named eBay as the headline partner for the UK launch of Saturday Night Live, bringing the American comedy brand to British screens on March 21. The deal centers on eBay Live, the platform’s interactive shopping experience, with eBay‑branded...
TVNZ’s latest six‑month results reveal 1News At Six as the clear leader across both its TVNZ+ streaming app and traditional broadcast, attracting 726,000 viewers and nearly 20 million streams. News programmes such as Seven Sharp and Breakfast also rank among the...
The ongoing Middle East conflict threatens to erase between Rs 200 crore and Rs 250 crore of advertising spend from Gulf brands in IPL 2026, which is projected to generate roughly Rs 4,900 crore in ad revenue. Airspace closures and security concerns have prompted several Middle Eastern...
AMC Networks has renewed Jonathan Glatzer’s drama “The Audacity” ahead of its Season 1 debut on April 12, with a world premiere slated for SXSW. The History Channel will launch the 20‑part documentary “World War II With Tom Hanks” on May 25, airing three...
Foxtel Media announced that 39% of advertisers for the 2026 NRL season are brand‑new, joining returning partners such as Westpac, McDonald’s and Toyota. New sponsors include Red Bull, Bunnings, Club 4×4 Insurance and Youi, while programmatic inventory expansion lets small regional...
Acast has inked a multi‑year agreement to host The Aunty Donna Podcast and the newly created Grouse House Podcast Network on its platform. The deal consolidates Australia’s leading independent comedy collective under one roof just as Aunty Donna prepares to...
Barb has added pre‑campaign planning to Barb Ads Hub, turning it into a single platform for UK advertising buyers and sellers to forecast and evaluate campaigns across linear and VOD services. The new planner, previously called Advanced Campaign Hub, merges...
Australia is set to enforce new age‑verification laws for online pornography on 9 March, requiring users to prove they are over 18 through facial scans, digital wallets or photo ID. In protest, Aylo, the Canadian owner of Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn and...
Australian designer and environmental advocate Jamie Durie has signed a partnership with global streaming platform LeadStory to produce original lifestyle programming. The new series will focus on sustainability, architecture and design, drawing on Durie's decades of experience in television and...
Apple TV+’s *Monarch: Legacy of Monsters* season 2 quickly rose to become the second‑most‑watched show on the platform in the United States, according to FlixPatrol, trailing only *Hijack* and *Shrinking*. The series introduces a new sea‑monster antagonist, Titan X, while keeping the...
Pixar’s new animated feature *Hoppers* opened to a $46 million domestic weekend, bringing its global debut to $88 million. The launch marks the studio’s strongest opening for an original title since *Coco* in 2017 and the best domestic start for a Pixar...
Prime Video will pull the 2001 thriller *Don’t Say a Word* from its catalog on March 14, giving viewers just six days left to stream it. The film stars Sean Bean as villainous thief Patrick Koster, alongside Michael Douglas and...
Cable networks such as ESPN, CNN and AMC continue to rely on subscriber carriage fees rather than moving to free over‑the‑air (OTA) television. In 2024 they collected over $40 billion in carriage fees, while advertising revenue declined about 10 % year‑over‑year. Technical...
Sling TV, a DISH/EchoStar subsidiary, introduced low‑cost daily Passes in 2025, attracting budget‑conscious cord‑cutters. Despite strong subscriber numbers—over 1.5 million—the parent’s strained balance sheet and costly 5G rollout have made Sling a non‑core asset. Analysts predict DISH may put Sling TV...
YouTube TV has launched a personalized subscription system that lets users build their own channel packages from 12 genre‑based bundles. The web‑only tool analyzes viewing history and suggests mixes of sports, entertainment, news and family channels, allowing customers to drop...
Patrick Dempsey’s new crime drama *Memory of a Killer* has surged to #7 on Prime Video’s UK TV streaming chart, indicating strong viewer uptake since its January‑February rollout. The two‑part series follows Dempsey as Angelo Doyle, a photocopier salesman‑by‑day and...
The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s 2025 report shows free‑to‑air (FTA) TV viewership rebounding to 52 % of adults, driven by younger audiences, while subscription streaming remains stable at 68 % usage. ABC iview continues to dominate FTA catch‑up but its share fell...
Roku introduced a dedicated search function within its Live Guide, letting users locate free‑live channels by name, genre or keyword via on‑screen typing or voice. The update also blends over‑the‑air antenna signals with streaming, streamlining the viewing experience for budget‑focused...
President Donald Trump’s media arm has introduced Truth+, a live‑TV streaming service that combines a free tier with a $9.99 premium Patriot Package. The free tier provides 21 live channels, over 1,000 on‑demand titles, DVR capabilities and multi‑device support, while...
Disney’s 20th Century Studios saw Predator: Badlands retain the No. 1 spot on the Circana VideoScan overall disc sales and Blu‑ray charts for the week ending Feb. 28, marking its second consecutive week at the top. The sci‑fi action title slipped to No. 2...
The Writers Guild of America released its Pattern of Demands ahead of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, a step approved by 97.4% of its members. The document outlines broad objectives on health and pension contributions,...
The *Scrubs* revival premiered to 11.36 million cross‑platform viewers, becoming ABC’s highest‑rated comedy debut in 17 years and the network’s top streaming launch in over a year. The show leads the network’s linear adults 18‑49 ratings after three episodes and holds 90%...
SAS Airlines has become the first carrier to launch a dedicated BBC Nordic on‑demand channel, thanks to a partnership brokered by Touch Inflight Solutions. The new offering provides passengers with a curated selection of British titles, ranging from murder mysteries...
The Federal Court of Appeal rejected Rogers' challenge to two CRTC decisions that barred the cable operator from repackaging or removing Corus Entertainment’s Slice, Home and Flavour channels. The court interpreted the regulatory "standstill" rule as freezing all contract terms,...
ESPN has officially taken over NFL Network, absorbing all existing on‑air talent contracts as of April 1. Employees will remain under their current deals until expiration, after which they must negotiate new agreements with Disney’s ESPN division. The transition has sparked...
The Media Ratings Council (MRC) has raised concerns about Nielsen’s National Big Data + Panel TV measurement after detecting a more than 10% decline in 25‑54‑year‑old audience impressions in the first half of 2025. MRC identified four priority areas –...
Sons of Anarchy’s entire seven‑season run is currently available on the free UK streaming service U, but the catalogue will be removed shortly. The FX crime drama, which aired 92 episodes between 2008 and 2014, holds an 87% Rotten Tomatoes...
Netflix has added the 3DCG animated feature *In Your Dreams* to its streaming catalog, accompanied by two exclusive behind‑the‑scenes VFX breakdown videos. The featurettes, hosted by VFX supervisor Nicola Lavender, showcase Sony Pictures Imageworks’ work on the film’s surreal Breakfast...
Quentin Rigaux’s first feature, *Cosmo Princess*, is a 90‑minute 2‑D sci‑fi family film that fuses 1970s‑80s anime aesthetics with classic French animation influences. The project is being shepherded by Academy Award‑winning producer Ron Dyens of *Flow* and debuted at the 2026...
The Next TMT Talks panel examined how connected‑TV operating systems have become the primary gateway for streaming content, advertising, and data collection. Panelists from The Trade Desk’s Ventura TVOS, Whale TV, and ViewLift discussed their strategies to challenge incumbent platforms and capture...
Midco Sports, a 95‑year‑old Upper Midwest technology firm, has turned its regional sports network into a national‑minded streaming platform, Midco Sports Plus, now reaching viewers in nine U.S. states. A new partnership with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) brings...
Riedel Communications showcased a suite of new products at the 2026 NAB Show, emphasizing simplified, scalable production workflows across video, audio, intercom, and networking. Highlights included the browser‑based hi human interface control system, the MediorNet HorizoN ST 2110 MultiViewer app,...
Live sports broadcasters are moving core production to cloud workflows, replacing on‑site hardware with scalable, remote infrastructure. The shift reduces capital expense, improves agility, and supports the growing demand for multi‑language, regional, and platform‑specific feeds. Modern encoding, bandwidth, and latency...
Salem Media announced its Salem News Channel is now available on Amazon Prime Video. The addition places the channel within Prime Video’s growing free ad‑supported streaming TV (FAST) portfolio. Salem’s VP Cary Pahigian highlighted the move as a way to...
