Television News and Headlines
Television News and Headlines
Ratings Roundup shows a surge in live sports viewership across major leagues. ESPN’s MLB spring‑training broadcast between the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers attracted 468 K average viewers, a 54 % increase over last year and the most‑watched spring‑training game in a decade. NHL games on ESPN and ABC post‑Olympics posted an average of 785 K viewers, up 17 % YoY, with individual matchups gaining 51‑64 % over prior season averages. Meanwhile, NASCAR’s Cup Series race at COTA delivered 3.9 M average viewers, ranking as the week’s top sports telecast despite a modest 5 % YoY decline, while related series showed mixed performance and cable news audiences rose sharply during the sports windows.
Netflix will live‑stream BTS’s comeback performance on March 21 from Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square, coinciding with the release of their fifth studio album ARIRANG. The event airs at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT) in the United States and spans multiple global time zones. BTS, holder...
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ordered the Broadcast Audience Research Council to suspend television news ratings (TRPs) for four weeks, citing concerns that sensational coverage of the US‑Iran conflict is stoking public panic. The pause aims to remove the...
The Council of Europe has opened two 2026 calls under its Pilot Programme for Series Co‑productions, allocating roughly €2.1 million to support high‑quality scripted fiction, animation, or documentary series that involve cross‑border collaboration. Awards range from €150,000 to €300,000 and can...
The BBC warned that declining licence‑fee revenue and rising streaming competition threaten its funding model, and proposed opening iPlayer to other public‑service broadcasters while keeping BBC content ad‑free. Meanwhile, UK digital video advertising grew 20 % to £9.3 billion, now accounting for...
In the early 1950s CBS executives balked at casting Cuban‑born Desi Arnaz opposite Lucille Ball in the new sitcom that would become *I Love Lucy*. Ball threatened to quit unless her husband was kept, and the couple’s successful vaudeville tour proved audiences would accept...
At the 2026 NAB Show, Tedial will showcase its AI‑driven media asset management platform, highlighting new agentic AI capabilities integrated via the Model Context Protocol. The solution blends pervasive AI, composable architecture, and NoCode workflow design to boost operational efficiency...
Disney will retire the standalone Hulu app by 2026, moving its on‑demand library into Disney+. Hulu + Live TV will stay as a separate subscription but its future home is unclear, with options including the Disney+ app or the merged Fubo platform....
KLIP, a new microdrama streaming app, launched a television commercial to introduce its two‑minute, bite‑sized drama episodes. The ad targets Indian Tier 2 and Tier 3 viewers aged 16‑45, emphasizing entertainment that fits into everyday waiting moments. By framing waiting as an...
The NBA is in advanced talks with YouTube TV, Amazon, ESPN and DAZN to launch a centralized streaming hub for local team broadcasts, potentially as early as the 2026‑27 season. The effort gained urgency after Main Street Sports Group collapsed,...
T‑Mobile has revived its partnership with Major League Baseball, offering eligible customers a free MLB.TV subscription for the 2026 season—a service normally priced at $149.99. The benefit applies to qualifying T‑Mobile and Metro by T‑Mobile voice and data plans, but...
Czech television viewing jumped sharply in February after Atmedia introduced a new audience metric that adds out‑of‑home consumption. Average daily viewing rose to 4 hours 11 minutes, a 10% year‑on‑year increase. Out‑of‑home viewing accounted for about 7% of total time but drove roughly...
Aferian has suspended its AIM‑listed shares as it moves toward a pre‑pack administration and the sale of its operating subsidiaries, 24i and Amino, to a single buyer. The transaction, backed by senior lenders, is expected to close within days and...
Movistar Plus has expanded its mandatory pre‑roll advertising to several Atresmedia linear channels, adding a 30‑second non‑skippable ad before viewers can watch live broadcasts. The system, first rolled out on RTVE channels, limits exposure to one ad per 30 minutes...
At Streaming Media Connect 2026, Fuse Media’s CRO Karl Meyer and Spaceback co‑founder Joe Hall discussed how shoppable content is converging with cloud gaming on connected‑TV platforms. Samsung’s early integration of on‑demand gaming into its smart TVs set the stage,...
ABC News appointed Dani Isdale as the new Executive Producer of 7.30, succeeding Joel Tozer. Isdale brings 26 years of award‑winning international journalism experience, including BAFTA, News Emmy and RTS honors. She currently serves as Deputy Head of Foreign and...
A24 has opened advance orders for the Blu‑ray release of *If I Had Legs I’d Kick You* through its own online store, with shipments slated for May 2026. The dark comedy stars Rose Byrne, who recently earned a Golden Globe...
Paramount+ will debut the Brazilian biographical MMA series “Anderson Spider Silva” in the United States on March 7, following an international launch on March 5 across Latin America. The eight‑part miniseries tracks Silva’s journey from a challenging childhood in São Paulo to his...
The transition from broadcast to IP delivery has sharpened the focus on live‑stream latency, exposing a 30‑60 second gap that threatens viewer engagement. Unlike Video on Demand, live events cannot rely on pre‑encoding buffers, forcing engineers to balance immediacy against stability....
Eurovision Sport, the EBU’s free‑to‑air streaming service, has teamed with AI specialist CAMB.AI to deliver live and on‑demand subtitling for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. The partnership will provide real‑time, contextual speech‑to‑text transcription across all six Paralympic sports, preserving editorial...
Estrella TV’s latest Nielsen report marks its strongest performance in half a decade, with a 51 percent lift in prime‑time audience among adults 18‑49 and a 65 percent year‑over‑year gain for February. The surge pushes the network’s average to 40,900 viewers in...
AI voice startup Elevenlabs has appointed former Conversant Media executive Michael Costa as its go‑to‑market director for Australia and New Zealand. Costa, who has held senior roles at Salesforce, Twilio and Mixpanel, will lead the company’s expansion despite still being based...
YouTube now accounts for over 12% of all TV viewing time in January, outpacing Netflix by roughly four percentage points, according to Nielsen’s latest "The Gauge" report. The platform’s VP for the Americas, Tara Walpert Levy, framed YouTube as a...
The 28th Cartoon Movie forum in Bordeaux awarded the 2026 Cartoon Tributes, highlighting Reza Memari as Director of the Year for his environmentally‑themed feature *The Last Whale Singer*. The Producer of the Year prize went to a multinational consortium for *Allah Is...
ESPN is launching an unprecedented 650+ hours of live coverage across 20 NCAA winter championships this March and April, streaming everything from women’s basketball and wrestling to gymnastics and ice hockey. The programming will be distributed across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2,...
Australian streaming service Stan Sport has secured a sub‑licensing agreement with beIN Sports to broadcast the entire WTA Tour, covering every 250, 500 and 1000‑level tournament as well as the season‑ending WTA Finals. The rights add a year‑round women’s tennis pillar to...
Music Box Television has signed a distribution deal with AzamTV, bringing its Music Box Hits and Music Box Dance channels to nine East and Southern African countries. The channels launch in Full HD across AzamTV’s IPTV, OTT and DTH satellite...
ESPN announced its third real‑time animated NHL broadcast, the “Inside Out Classic,” featuring the Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers on April 5. The telecast blends Pixar’s *Inside Out* characters with live player data using NHL Edge positional tracking and Sony’s Hawk‑Eye...
Audiochuck, the true‑crime podcast network behind hits like “Crime Junkie,” has appointed Matt Shanfield as Head of Television and Film to spearhead a new division. The unit will adapt the company’s podcast catalog for global streaming platforms while also developing...
Seven has unveiled "My Reno Rules," a new renovation competition backed by billionaire Adrian Portelli that promises the largest giveaway in Australian television history. The format pits four teams of everyday Australians against each other to transform two neighboring rundown...
ATSC is finalizing an amendment to its Recommended Practice A/327 that details how ATSC 3.0 broadcasters can interleave 5G Broadcast waveforms within the same RF channel. The proposal leverages ATSC 3.0’s built‑in time‑domain sharing mechanisms, requiring no changes to the core standard, and...
Frank Biancuzzo, who has led Hearst Media Production Group since its 2021 launch, announced he will retire in mid‑2026, concluding more than four decades with Hearst Television. Under his stewardship, HMPG expanded from the Litton Entertainment acquisition to a catalog...
CBC/Radio-Canada announced that its all‑news channels, CBC News Network and French‑language ICI RDI, are now available on Amazon Prime Video as add‑on subscriptions. The service costs $5 per month and includes a seven‑day free trial, delivering 24/7 live breaking‑news coverage....
Natalia Dyer, fresh from the Stranger Things finale, has signed representation with Creative Artists Agency. The move follows her casting in Amazon MGM’s upcoming romantic comedy “Goodbye Girl,” alongside Kiernan Shipka and Cole Sprouse. Dyer also retains representation from Circle...
ABC has officially renewed the procedural drama "High Potential" for a third season, even as the series searches for a new showrunner after Todd Harthan announced his departure to co‑create the live‑action adaptation of "Eragon." The show, starring Kaitlin Olson...
Seven’s commercial late‑night bulletin The Latest, launched in 2018, was axed in early 2025 and has not been replaced. The network now only airs occasional updates for breaking stories, leaving it as the sole Australian commercial broadcaster without a regular...
Australia’s media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), has launched an eight‑week public consultation to review how alcohol advertising appears on commercial free‑to‑air television. The review, running until 5:00 pm on 30 April 2026, will assess the volume, frequency and placement...
Spanish tech firm Konodrac has introduced Smart Self-Promotions, an automated platform that turns traditional TV self-promotion into data-driven campaigns for linear, HbbTV and OTT environments. The solution leverages census-level audience data to segment viewers, deliver interactive calls-to-action, and provide full-funnel...
The City of Bellevue, Iowa, announced it will discontinue its municipal cable television service on October 1, 2026 after nearly twenty years of operation. The decision cites mounting competition from streaming platforms and rising financial pressures. Residents were notified through...
Get After It Media (GAIM) has renewed its technology partnership with BroadView Software for a seven‑year term, extending the collaboration that underpins its suite of multicast channels. The agreement emphasizes a fully converged broadcast and streaming revenue operation, aligning linear,...
Net Insight will unveil its Nimbra Live Intelligence platform at the 2026 NAB Show, positioning it as a unified solution for live‑media production, distribution and protection. The system‑level platform promises predictable behavior across on‑premise networks, public internet and cloud environments...
The New York Yankees have announced that 21 of their 2026 regular‑season games will be streamed exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video for fans within the team’s local broadcast footprint. YES Network will produce the telecasts, including a 30‑minute pre‑game show,...
Vigloo unveiled Vigloo Studio, an AI‑powered creator dashboard tailored for microdrama producers. The platform consolidates viewership statistics, regional breakdowns, episode completion rates, and paid‑viewership data into a single interface. It also delivers a revenue hub showing coin and subscription earnings,...
Merzigo, a premium video monetisation firm, has signed a partnership with Banijay Rights to optimise and monetize select titles from Banijay’s global catalogue, including MasterChef Universe, Mr Bean TV and Survivor Official TV. The collaboration will leverage Merzigo’s data‑driven tools to...
LTN and MediaKind announced a strategic partnership that tightly integrates MediaKind’s MK.IO Beam on‑premise devices with LTN’s global IP transport network. The joint solution delivers redundant, multipath IP delivery and edge video processing, allowing broadcasters to transmit and receive compressed...
European drama producers and distributors are adapting to a tighter financing environment as U.S. co‑production dollars shrink and production costs rise. They are emphasizing well‑packaged deals, flexible windowing, and multi‑territory appeal, often leveraging tax incentives and strategic location budgeting. Known...
Lumen Research has teamed up with Netflix to launch an attention‑measurement solution that tracks how viewers engage with ads across Netflix’s ad‑supported CTV, desktop, and mobile platforms. The offering is initially available to advertisers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy,...
Comscore and Yahoo DSP have launched Proximic Political Audiences, a first‑to‑market solution that merges linear TV exposure data with Connected TV (CTV) targeting for political advertising. The partnership leverages Comscore’s local market measurement, Proximic’s activation platform, and Yahoo’s programmatic inventory...
AccuWeather has launched its free, ad‑supported streaming channel AccuWeather NOW on Samsung TV Plus in the United States, adding the service to Samsung’s FAST platform that now exceeds 100 million monthly active users worldwide. The channel delivers 24‑hour weather programming, including forecasts, severe‑weather...
Synamedia teamed with Swiss sports‑tech firm Asport to stream the Games of the Future in Abu Dhabi, a hybrid event merging physical sport, esports and digital games. Using Synamedia’s Quortex SaaS platform, Asport delivered over 200 live streams across YouTube,...
