Television News and Headlines
Television News and Headlines
MFE‑MediaForEurope has restructured its top management, appointing Pier Silvio Berlusconi as Chairman and Group CEO while retaining Fedele Confalonieri as Statutory Chairperson. The new model replaces a vertical holding‑company layout with a horizontal structure that centralises staff functions at the group level. A suite of group‑wide roles—including General Counsel, Chief Global Advertising Officer and Chief Institutional Affairs Officer—has been announced to streamline coordination across markets. MFE also launched a dedicated digital and AI innovation unit and created a Data and Media Currency Director role to enhance cross‑platform performance measurement.
LiveU deployed its AI‑driven LiveU IQ (LIQ) technology at the Winter Games, marking the first large‑scale global rollout for a multi‑venue sporting event. Broadcasters used LIQ for roughly 60% of live sessions, achieving a 36% increase in average bitrate and...
Paramount Global, now merged with Warner Bros. Discovery, faces roughly $79 billion of debt and is streamlining operations by moving most film and TV production to Warner Bros.’ Burbank lot. The historic 65‑acre Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue will remain active...
The CW Network will serve as the exclusive broadcast home for six additional Banana Ball games during the 2026 season, extending its partnership with the Savannah Bananas. The slate includes matchups in Atlanta, Savannah, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Nashville, beginning with...
Cosm announced the opening of its third immersive entertainment venue in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Yards on June 10, 2026. The 70,000‑square‑foot, three‑level complex features a 12K+ LED dome that blends virtual and physical experiences, and its inaugural event will be Game 4 of...
ITV announced it expects a 2% decline in advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2026, following a 5% year‑on‑year drop in 2025. The broadcaster attributes the slowdown to weaker consumer spending and increased competition from digital platforms. Management signaled...
ITV confirmed it is still negotiating a potential sale of its Media & Entertainment unit to Sky for about £1.6 billion, while reporting a modest decline in ITV Studios profit and a 5% drop in advertising revenue for 2025. Total external...
At AIDC2026, representatives from Australia’s state screen agencies highlighted a tightening of documentary funding eligibility. The South Australian Film Corporation now requires clear evidence of South Australian residency, often through co‑production arrangements. Screen Territory has begun cross‑checking applicants against the...
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and the 4As released a study revealing a "Paradox of Plenty" for U.S. advertisers: abundant data and sophisticated tools have not translated into higher confidence in media measurement. Surveying 197 senior marketers, the...
Movistar Plus has signed a deal to broadcast Spain’s premier mixed‑martial‑arts promotion, WOW, beginning with the WOW 27 Madrid event on March 7. The agreement provides full coverage on the Deportes por M+ channel, with the main card also airing on Vamos por M+ for...
Free TV Australia has struck a deal with PacificAus TV to deliver live National Rugby League matches across its Pacific partner broadcasters. The arrangement gives 18 free‑to‑air stations in 12 nations access to two live NRL games and one delayed match...
Sarah J. Maas announced she has reclaimed the master rights to her works, giving her full control over any television adaptation of the A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series. She emphasized that future adaptations will reflect her vision and...
Sony Pictures Television is selling its 30% share in The Whisper Group after five years of partnership. The divestiture returns Whisper to private ownership, with external financing to fund its strategy and an employee equity plan. During Sony’s tenure, Whisper’s...
Fremantle announced Ben Crompton as its new Global Head of Entertainment, effective March 2026. Crompton arrives from NBCUniversal, where he oversaw International Unscripted, developing formats and IP worldwide. He previously launched Lime Pictures US, delivering hit shows for Netflix, MTV,...
British streaming platforms are abandoning the traditional subscriber‑growth model in favor of targeting high‑net‑worth viewers. Executives now prioritize Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) by offering premium tiers that promise seamless, personalized experiences. Data‑driven curation, early‑release access, and 8K streaming are...
Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann told investors that the company walked away from the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) acquisition solely because the price was unacceptable, not due to political pressure or antitrust concerns. Netflix had an $82.7 billion offer on the table...
ABC announced a $1,000 per‑head bonus and a revised pay package for roughly 4,500 staff in a bid to avert a strike. The offer includes annual wage increases of 3.5%, 3.25% and 3.25% over three years, progression to band six,...
Screen Producers Australia announced that four senior overseas executives will attend SCREEN FOREVER 40, the country’s flagship screen industry conference on the Gold Coast from 28‑30 April 2026. The delegation includes Sophie Green of Bankside Films, Antoine Nugou of Mediawan...
The 2026 SVG GFX Forum convened over 250 sports‑graphics leaders in New York to explore AI‑driven workflows, XR studio tech, and the future of live‑sports visual storytelling. Highlights included ESPN’s data‑rich MNF Playbook alt‑cast, a massive new college‑football graphics suite...
The E.W. Scripps Company agreed to buy Lexington’s ABC affiliate WTVQ for $15.8 million, creating a duopoly with its existing NBC station WLEX pending regulatory clearance. Scripps CEO Adam Symson said the deal will deepen market scale and fund more neighborhood...
OffBall and Togethxr announced a strategic partnership that merges OffBall’s sports‑culture coverage with Togethxr’s women’s‑sports focus. Togethxr reported $30 million in 2025 revenue and profitability, while OffBall has more than doubled its revenue to approach mid‑seven figures. The deal gives each...
Netflix co‑founder Reed Hastings and CFO Spencer Neumann sold a combined $48.1 million in Netflix shares, according to March 4 regulatory filings. Hastings disposed of $39.8 million worth of 410,550 shares at $96‑$97.50 each and simultaneously bought back the same number at $9.7...
Netflix has set the release date for Season 4 of the Emmy‑winning docu‑reality series Love on the Spectrum, slated for April 1, 2026. The show continues to follow autistic individuals navigating dating, mixing returning participants with new faces. Executive producers Karina Holden and...
YouTube Live has added Net Insight’s Nimbra Edge software encoder and Nimbra 400 hardware appliance to its verified encoder list. The verification confirms compatibility with SRT and RTMP ingest, as well as sustained stability under fault conditions. Broadcasters can now stream...
SportsEngine Play will livestream the 2026 Endzone 7‑on‑7 National Football Recruiting Tournament on March 7‑8 from The Woodlands, Texas. The two‑day flag‑football event features more than 125 teams across six age groups, making it the nation’s largest youth recruiting showcase. The...
TeamTO, a veteran European animation studio, announced the creation of TeamTOKO Animation, an anime‑inspired production division dedicated to original 2D and 3D series and feature films. The new unit operates as a distinct, creator‑led creative hub while the studio maintains...
Mometu, a free ad‑supported streaming service for independent cinema, has launched the nine‑month Mometu Short Film Showdown. The competition curates up to 25 genre‑specific short films each month, streaming them for 30 days and returning 85% of generated ad revenue...
StreamGuys is rolling out major upgrades to its Ultra‑Low Latency Streaming (ULLS) platform, adding native iOS support and dynamic pre‑roll ad insertion. The enhancements let fans in stadiums hear synchronized play‑by‑play commentary on mobile apps without the traditional broadcast delay....
Cosm will debut a reimagined "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" on May 7 at its Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas shared‑reality venues, with tickets on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT. The experience uses an 87‑foot curved screen capable of over 12K...
Paramount+ Canada and GameTV are launching the six‑part satirical series “Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story” on March 26, with the first two episodes debuting on GameTV and a day later on Paramount+. The show stars Shamier Anderson as the...
Cartoon Saloon announced Anthony Leo, the Oscar‑nominated producer of The Breadwinner, as its new chief executive, succeeding Gerry Shirren after a twelve‑year tenure. Leo, co‑founder of Aircraft Pictures, brings a track record that includes Netflix hits and festival‑premiered series. The...
Storyoscopic Films and Thailand’s Indochina Productions have formed a Bangkok‑based joint venture called BKK Films. The partnership will produce genre‑driven movies starring Asian protagonists, leveraging Storyoscopic’s development expertise and Indochina’s production infrastructure. Its inaugural slate includes the gangster‑action film “7...
Creator‑led companies like Donut Media are reshaping digital video advertising by building an integrated, 360‑degree ad stack that spans long‑form YouTube, short‑form social, podcasts and real‑world activations. The firm sells custom‑branded segments, 45‑ to 60‑second host‑read pre‑rolls and official partnership...
Netflix’s documentary "The Perfect Neighbor" has crossed 50 million views since its October 2025 debut and saw streaming numbers more than triple in the two weeks following its Oscar nomination. The film also secured Best Documentary honors at the Independent Spirit Awards...
Walt Disney is turning the Super Bowl from a single‑day spectacle into a year‑long media franchise called “The Year of the Super Bowl.” The move leverages the $800 million advertising haul from one game to launch continuous ESPN features such as...
German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF will overhaul their linear TV portfolio under a reformed national broadcast treaty, shutting down ARD alpha, tagesschau24 and ONE by December 31 2026. The restructure consolidates remaining services into three jointly‑operated channels—phoenix for news, neo for...
Ziggo Sport has secured a four‑year extension of its Dutch broadcast rights to UEFA’s flagship club competitions, keeping the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League through the 2030/31 season. The package will be delivered across six linear channels, 20...
HBO’s period drama *The Gilded Age* announced its fourth‑season lineup, promoting Kelley Curran, Jordan Donica and Ashlie Atkinson to series regulars. The show also added high‑profile guest stars, including Jim Gaffigan as President Grover Cleveland and Elizabeth Marvel as nurse...
Creative studio 3 Chillies has officially launched, appointing Nick Bell as co‑founder. The venture also secured former Dark Horses CEO Melissa Robertson as a non‑executive director. 3 Chillies aims to deliver end‑to‑end brand storytelling, blending creative production with data‑driven insights....
Elliot Millard, chief strategy officer at Thinkbox, warned that the advertising industry’s reliance on a maze of acronyms—CTV, OTT, AVOD and the like—obscures a clear view of television consumption. He advocated replacing this "acronym soup" with a single, unified metric...
NEP Europe has relaunched its OB unit as EU‑03, a software‑centric mobile production truck designed for 1080p HDR live events. The upgrade fully adopts SMPTE ST 2110, allowing broadcasters to run license‑based, scalable workflows that blend software and hardware. Based in...
Swiss media group CH Media will embed German streaming service RTL+ into its oneplus platform on 23 March 2026, creating a bundled offering that also includes Paramount+ and a slate of Swiss originals. The integration delivers selected RTL+ titles—reality, drama and family...
FreeWheel’s Voice of the Viewer study shows that 85% of European streaming users watch ad‑supported tiers, with 83% satisfied overall. Content choice drives satisfaction, cited by 73% of respondents, while 47% exclusively use ad‑supported plans and 49% deliberately chose them....
The BBC has appointed Storm Fagan as its chief technology and product officer, tasking her with leading the newly created BBC Media Tech division. The unit will consolidate product and technology teams from the broadcaster and BBC Studios into a...
The Handball-Bundesliga has appointed Dyn Media to take over the technical development of its international streaming service, HBL TV, starting summer 2026. The league’s OTT platform, already available in over 80 countries, will expand to more than 100 markets where...
JioStar secured the removal of 36 high‑download IPTV apps from Google Play and the iOS App Store during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, cutting off over 26 million global downloads and disrupting a piracy ecosystem. The move, backed by...
A Madrid investigating court has summoned Cloudflare chief executive Matthew Prince to appear on April 7th over alleged non‑cooperation with Spain’s anti‑piracy efforts. LaLiga and Movistar Plus+ claim the U.S. firm ignored more than a hundred takedown requests, allowing roughly 38 percent of...
JioStar launched a massive anti‑piracy campaign during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, blocking 420 illicit sites and removing 36 illegal IPTV apps that had amassed over 26 million downloads. The Delhi High Court injunction enabled the suspension of 141 piracy...
At AIDC2026, a panel of SBS executives and producers debated the DNA of returnable documentary formats. They agreed that a bankable emotional hook is essential, while the narrative must stay unpredictable. A solid structural framework provides viewers with a familiar...
Creator talent agencies are abandoning the legacy deal‑brokering model in favor of multi‑platform operations that place creators at the core. Companies like Shorthand Studios and Night Media have demonstrated rapid audience growth and secured sizable funding, such as Night Media’s...
