AIDC2026: Does ABC Draw upon the Same Hosts, or Is It Nurturing New Talent?
At the Australian International Documentary Conference, ABC executives defended using well‑known documentary hosts to draw audiences while also emphasizing a push for fresh faces. Kelrick Martin highlighted the network’s commitment to Indigenous talent, citing Miranda Tapsell’s recent presenter role. Jo Chichester pointed to Annabel Crabb’s alignment with a democracy‑focused series, and Kalita Corrigan praised Shaun Micallef’s ability to make polarising topics entertaining. The panel underscored social media as a key source for discovering new hosting talent.
‘Silly Stories for Kids’ Podcast Is Winning over Children Globally
Australian‑made children’s podcast “Silly Stories for Kids” has amassed 2.47 million listens and 1.37 million downloads in the past 30 days, generating over 21.8 million listening minutes. The audience is now dominated by North America, which accounts for 52 % of listeners, while downloads...
Winx Club & Friends SVoD Channel Launches on Prime Video
Rainbow's studio has launched its first themed subscription video‑on‑demand (SVoD) channel, Winx Club & Friends, on Amazon Prime Video. The channel is live in the UK, Italy, France, Finland and Sweden and bundles flagship series such as Winx Club, Huntik,...
TV Wiped Out in Latest Vic Gov Ad Spend Figures
Victoria’s government advertising has dramatically shifted away from television, with TV accounting for just 9.4% of the $103.2 million media budget in 2023‑24 – roughly $9.7 million. The TV share fell from a peak of $32.4 million in 2020‑21 to half that amount...
‘The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender’ Gets Final Update After Scrapped Theatrical Release
The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, an animated continuation of the Avatar franchise, will debut on October 9 2026 via Paramount+ rather than a theatrical run. Co‑directors Lauren Montgomery and William Mata confirmed the film has finished production, and original creators...
AEW Set for International, FAST Growth
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is expanding its digital footprint by teaming with streaming technology firm Kiswe to launch MyAEW, a subscription‑based platform that includes a free FAST channel called Watch AEW. The channel streams on Android TV, Apple TV and...
Countdown to World Cup
Fox Sports announced an aggressive 2026 FIFA World Cup broadcast plan, featuring 70 matches on the Fox broadcast network and a total of 340 live hours across its platforms. The schedule includes 21 primetime games on Fox and 19 primetime...
Optimum Launching New Net
Optimum is set to launch a new network called In2 TV next month, bundling News 12 original series, mystery documentaries, cultural stories and exclusive sports. The channel will be carried on all video customers subscribed to Optimum's Basic package and...
Philo’s New Plans
Philo, under new CEO Mike Keyserling, unveiled two refreshed subscription tiers this month. The $25‑per‑month Essential plan bundles over 70 live TV channels, 120 FAST channels, video‑on‑demand and unlimited DVR storage, plus a 7‑day free trial. The former Core plan...
Versant’s DTC Investment
Versant announced a multi‑brand direct‑to‑consumer push, unveiling an MS Now streaming service, a Fandango AVOD platform, and a CNBC DTC product aimed at retail investors. CFO/COO Anand Kini emphasized that the rollout will rely on existing video‑playback, commerce, and brand infrastructure, keeping...
Netflix Passes on NRL Broadcast Rights as ARLC Seeks $4b Deal
Netflix confirmed it will not bid for the National Rugby League broadcast rights as the Australian Rugby League Commission pursues a package valued at over $4 billion. The league aims to finalize a deal within three months, targeting both traditional broadcasters...
‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’ Pilot Ratings Jump More Than 100%, Reaching Nearly 13 Million Viewers Since Premiere...
The pilot of NBC’s new sitcom “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” attracted 5.8 million live viewers and has since amassed nearly 13 million across broadcast, Peacock and other digital platforms within 50 days—a growth of more than 100%. The strong...
‘Somebody Feed Phil’ Moving To YouTube In 2027 As Phil Rosenthal Inks Strategic Global Deal With Banijay
Phil Rosenthal’s culinary travel series *Somebody Feed Phil* will transition from Netflix to a dedicated YouTube channel in 2027 under a strategic global deal with Banijay. The agreement also includes a slate of short‑form content and explores AVOD and FAST...
‘Entertainment Tonight’ Names Emily Curl As New York-Based Correspondent
Entertainment Tonight announced that Emily Curl will serve as its New York‑based correspondent, starting March 9, 2026. Curl brings a digital‑first background from iHeartRadio and experience with E! News, having interviewed top music and film talent. The move adds to...
Wonkybot Kids YouTube Hub Launches, Debuts Animated Series 'BLISS'
Wonkybot Entertainment has launched Wonkybot Kids, a dedicated YouTube hub for its growing family‑focused animated slate. The rollout is anchored by the preschool series BLISS, which premiered on March 6 across its own channel and the new hub. The move marks...
Mike Flanagan Will Be Scaring the Hell Out of Amazon MGM for Years to Come
Mike Flanagan has inked an exclusive overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios to develop original series, kicking off with a reimagined adaptation of Stephen King’s *Carrie* and a new version of *The Exorcist*. The agreement follows his departure from Netflix,...
Cincinnati Reds Partner With Gray Media
The Cincinnati Reds announced a two‑year partnership with Gray Media and its Fox19 station to simulcast ten regular‑season games on free over‑the‑air television. The schedule includes Opening Day on March 26 and nine “Red Hot Mondays” games, reaching fans in 17...
Hearst’s Pam Barber to Retire From WMOR Tampa
Hearst Television announced that Pam Barber will retire as President and General Manager of WMOR‑32 in Tampa after leading the station since 2015 and a 20‑year tenure with the company. Barber’s 43‑year broadcasting career began in Tampa in 1983 and...
Parrot, Radial Partner for Content Valuation
Parrot Analytics and Radial Entertainment have forged a multi‑year partnership to embed Parrot’s global, cross‑platform audience demand index into Radial’s content valuation, programming, and growth strategy. The deal gives Radial, which manages a library of over 70,000 movies and TV...
The Best Way To Embrace Convergent TV? Break Down The Silos Between Linear And Streaming
Marketers must dissolve the linear‑vs‑streaming divide and adopt a convergent TV approach, blending programmatic and direct buying. At Convergent TV World, Tatari’s Mike Fogarty highlighted the $70 billion U.S. TV market, noting that only $30 billion is streaming‑focused and still largely direct‑sold....
Hub: Live Sports Streaming Access Confusing Consumers
Hub Entertainment Research surveyed 3,733 U.S. sports fans and found that 87% are frustrated trying to locate live games across fragmented streaming services. Tools like ESPN’s “Where to Watch” and Roku’s “Sports Zone” were praised by 70% and 60% of...
TNT Sports Adds FIBA Basketball Events
TNT Sports has secured a multi‑year English‑language partnership with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), bringing men’s and women’s World Cup events to its linear channels and HBO Max streaming platform. Live coverage kicks off on March 11 with the FIBA Women’s...
Xprize Founder Peter Diamandis Launches New Contest to Manifest a New ‘Star Trek’
Peter Diamandis, founder of XPRIZE, announced a $3.5 million Future Vision XPRIZE aimed at encouraging optimistic science‑fiction storytelling. The contest, backed by Rod Roddenberry, Marc Benioff, Cathie Wood, Google and other high‑profile donors, will award a $2.5 million production fund to the grand‑prize winner. Submissions consist...
Save the Date: SVG’s New Cloud & Content Workflows Summit in NYC on July 28
Sports Video Group (SVG) announced its Cloud & Content Workflows Summit for July 28 in New York City, merging its previous cloud production and content management events into a single day. The summit will feature a morning program followed by...
Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par Moves Beyond the ‘Private Cinema’ Experiment for Major OTT Debut
Aamir Khan’s sports comedy‑drama Sitaare Zameen Par, which grossed over ₹250 crore in its 2025 theatrical run, will stream on Sony LIV in March 2026, becoming the platform’s first Hindi theatrical title. The film follows a coach working with neuro‑divergent players, echoing...
NBC’s Paralympic Effort Embraces Cloud for Signal Transport
NBC Sports is broadcasting the 2026 Milan‑Cortina Paralympics using a cloud‑first workflow, bypassing the traditional IBC connectivity. Signals are transported via SRT over the internet to two OBS cloud instances in Virginia and Frankfurt, with redundancy built in. Stamford, Connecticut...
A New Animated Ghostbusters TV Show & Movie Are in the Works at Netflix
Netflix is developing two new animated Ghostbusters projects with Sony Pictures Animation: a feature film tentatively titled "Ecto" that will be told from a ghost's perspective, and a companion series set in the 1990s featuring a new generation of teen...
Live Nation Settles with DOJ in Deal that Seeks to Avert Breakup with Ticketmaster
Live Nation reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, ending a high‑profile antitrust lawsuit that sought to split Ticketmaster from its parent. The agreement requires Live Nation to divest certain amphitheaters and to open its ticketing platform to...
Inside the CTV Contextual Advertising Toolset
At Streaming Media Connect 2026, Team Whistle and Intersection explained how CTV contextual advertising now hinges on AI‑driven tools and real‑time data pipelines. Team Whistle has built proprietary Looker‑based analytics that feed production, programming, and ad teams with live‑event and audience...
BeIN Sports Appeals Ruling in Ligue 1 Payment Dispute
beIN Sports has appealed a Paris Commercial Court ruling that ordered it to pay roughly €15 million to LFP Media for its Saturday Ligue 1 rights package. The broadcaster had withheld €4.71 million from each of three €18 million installments, arguing that contractual restrictions...
New Zealand and Brazil Have Signed an Official Co‑Production Agreement
New Zealand and Brazil have signed a landmark co‑production agreement, the first between New Zealand and a Latin American nation. The treaty, signed by foreign ministers Winston Peters and Mauro Vieira in Brasília, grants filmmakers access to domestic funding and...
Paramount Could Face a High Cost for Changing CNN
Paramount Skydance is pursuing the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s portfolio, which includes the news network CNN. CNN projects $1.8 billion in revenue for 2026, making it a valuable asset. Critics warn that CEO David Ellison’s close relationship with former President...
Talpa Studios Names New Director of Global IP
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...
HBO Max and Prime Video Join the Series Mania Forum Keynotes Lineup
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 Takes Sponsorship on Sky Sports Racing
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 Hires Chief Revenue Officer to ‘Close Gap’ Between Audience Growth and Advertiser Take-Up
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...
New Gravity Media Remote Production Facility Drives 900 Hours of ITV Programming
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...
RTS Aims to ‘Move the Conversation’ on Inclusivity in Production
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 Delivers Most-Watched MLB Spring Training Game in 10 Years with Team USA Vs. San Francisco Giants
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...
Former Storyville Boss Mandy Chang Becomes First CEO Of Documentary Film Council
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, Combate Global Launch New Televised MMA Fight Series
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,...
SI FanOS Powers Interactive Rally Predictor to Drive Community, Dwell Time and Conversion on Rally.TV
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 Expands Partnership with Samsung
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 BIG Stories and Wedotv Movies Launch on Freeview UK
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...
ORF Director General Weißmann Resigns After Allegations
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...
China Box Office: ‘Pegasus 3’ Cruises Toward $600 Million
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...
MPs to Quiz YouTube on Children’s TV and Video Content
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 Highest-Paying Movie Is Leaving Netflix This Month
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...
EBay Sponsors Sky’s Saturday Night Live UK
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...
Top TVNZ Shows
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...