Month: October 2018

CANNES — ITV is joining the growing list of traditional media heavyweights looking to move aggressively into the direct to consumer subscription TV arena. Carolyn McCall, ITV’s newly appointed CEO, made it clear that she sees the need for the U.K.’s largest commercial broadcaster to be a player in the streaming marketplace and to take

Portocabo TV, Ficción Producciones and Zenit TV figure among the five companies receiving Galician government moneys to develop audiovisual projects aimed at promoting the cultural values of St. James Way. Ideas pitched by Agallas Films and Diez Caminos have also made the cut. The five proposals, four TV series and a feature film, will share

Richard Gere hit Cannes on Monday with his upcoming BBC series “MotherFatherSon,” and the star told reporters that TV is now where the best work is being done. “MotherFatherSon” marks the first time Gere has taken a role in a major series after a career in film. “The world has so turned upside down in

CANNES — Few executives are better positioned to pinpoint the vast changes sweeping over Latin American TV than Pierluigi Gazzolo, president of Viacom Intl. Media Networks – Americas. VIMN – America’s purchase of Telefe, Argentina’s highest-rating broadcast network, and then investment in Porta dos Fundos, Brazil’s second-biggest YouTube channel, have been milestones in the region’s

Tele München Group’s world sales unit, TM International, has sold its high-end television series “The Name of the Rose,” starring John Turturro, to multiple territories, including the BBC in the U.K., Sky in Germany and OCS in France. Additionally it has been acquired by YLE in Finland, NRK in Norway, DR in Denmark, SBS in

October 15, 2018 2:32AM PT The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby, it was announced Monday. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were said to be “very pleased” to be expecting their first child in spring 2019. The royal baby will become the seventh in line to the British crown. The announcement was

CANNES — Launching new production units in France and the U.K., European film-TV powerhouse Studiocanal is priming its established talent relationships as it pushes ever more fiction format sales. The production-distribution-sales house hits Mipcom with “Pros and Cons,” the latest series from SAM Productions, co-run by “Borgen’s” Adam Price, and “,” from Nicola Shindler’s RED

Buzzed-up heading into this year’s Mipcom and selected as one of Variety’s top titles at the market, ITV’s Mammoth Screen-produced “The War of the Worlds” has announced international pre-sales covering 80 territories. Based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells, the series is set to be the first ever British made-for-TV adaptation of the story, produced for

Germany’s Beta Film, Italy’s Wildside, German production outlet Zeitsprung and the Isreali writer/creator trio Nadav Schirman, Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen have joined forces to launch “German Moon” at Mipcom. The series is inspired by the true story of former Nazi scientists who were behind NASA’s first manned mission to the Moon, with the focus

October 14, 2018 11:00PM PT CANNES — Netflix has snapped up international rights to the Hebrew-language drama series “When Heroes Fly” from Keshet International. The deal comes on the eve of the Mipcom international TV sales conference, which runs Monday through Thursday. “When Heroes Fly” revolves around the story of four Israeli army war veterans

In today’s roundup the Queen conquers new territories, social media and reality TV seek to create change, North America gets ready to rock and ProSiebenSat.1 taps Pabst for new executive position. ‘Queen of the World’ Lands in New Territories Leading broadcasters in the Netherland’s RTL and Norway’s NRK were two of a number of broadcasters announced

October 14, 2018 10:26PM PT The four new programs will launch in the first half of the coming year Smithsonian Channel announced Monday at Mipcom four original non-fiction series which will launch on the network in the coming year. Premiering in the first quarter of 2019, “America’s Hidden Stories” will look to give the cold

Joseph Fiennes was in Cannes, Sunday, to talk to potential partners about “Cyrano,” his “Cyrano de Bergerac” series project for Atrium TV. Atrium TV is a drama commissioning club that has telcos and pay-TV platforms as members. They were in Cannes to run the rule over new projects and others already in development. Members include

Playtime, the leading international sales and co-production companies behind Olivier Assayas’s “Non-Fiction” and Laszlo Nemes’s “Sunset,” is rolling into Mipcom with its first TV drama slate. Headed by former Fox executive Virginie Boireaux, Playtime’s TV division has boarded a pair of high-concept shows with female protagonists — “Mental” (“HP”), a comedy-drama series about Sheila, a

October 14, 2018 9:55PM PT With China in the spotlight at Mipcom as country of honor, CCTV has stepped up and acquired a package of blue-chip factual fare from international distributor Blue Ant International. The Chinese state broadcaster has taken 60 hours of high-end nature and wildlife programming from Blue Ant for its CCTV-1 and

THE ACCIDENT(Mediaset-Globomedia)Starring Inma Cuesta (“Julieta”), a thriller about a wife discovering the truth about her husband.Sales Agent: Eccho Rights ARDE MADRID(Movistar Plus, Andy Joke)Warmly received at San Sebastian, a B&W comedy-thriller half-hour set in 1961 Madrid’s Dolce Vita, featuring Ava Gardner. A DIFFERENT VIEW(Boomerang, RTVE)A suspense dramedy portrait of the Spanish society in the ’20s,

The CW is launching #CWOpenToAll, a new on-air, digital, social and print campaign designed to reinforce the network’s commitment to inclusion and representation. “We think this campaign really captures the spirit and mission of the CW and why our fans come to us,” said network president Mark Pedowitz. “We are committed to making sure our

October 14, 2018 4:00PM PT FX has given a series order to a parental comedy starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, Variety has learned. The series, titled “Breeders,” is described as exposing the parental-paradox that it is possible, in the very same moment, to love your child to the horizon of the universe, while being apoplectically