STREAMING
BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has set a content deal with MX Player, India’s largest AVOD service, which also has a strong reach across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Pakistan. The partnership kicks off with Simon Allen‘s “The Watch,” a series inspired by the characters in Terry Pratchett’s bestselling “Discworld” novels, which follows an unlikely group of misfits, The City Watch, who are forced to find the guts to save the world, surprising even themselves in the process; and “Line of Duty” creator Jed Mercurio‘s “Critical,” set in a major trauma center that only deals with the most serious cases, following an emergency medical team that battles through the vital first hour of care to save lives that hang in balance.
MX Player has 300 million monthly active users globally and has achieved the one billion download milestone.
APPOINTMENTS
Indian studio Yash Raj Films has promoted Akshaye Widhani, senior VP, finance and business affairs and head of operations, YRF Studios, to the newly created position of CEO. Widhani, a graduate from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, has been with YRF for 17 years, starting his career at YRF as a studio manager in charge of setting up operations for YRF Studios in 2005. Thereafter, he has executed leadership roles in corporate finance, strategy and operations. Widhani has also beeb been leading the recent philanthropical initiatives for The Yash Chopra Foundation.
A release date for one of the studio’s keenly awaited projects, “Pathaan,” the comeback vehicle of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, was revealed on Wednesday. Khan’s last film was 2018’s “Zero.” “Pathaan” also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham and is directed by Siddharth Anand. “Pathaan” will release Jan. 25, 2023, during India’s Republic Day holiday frame, in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.
I know it’s late… But remember the date… Pathaan time starts now…
See you in cinemas on 25th January, 2023.
Releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Celebrate #Pathaan with #YRF50 only at a big screen near you. @deepikapadukone |@TheJohnAbraham | #SiddharthAnand | @yrf pic.twitter.com/dm30yLDfF7
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) March 2, 2022
Meanwhile, Canada’s national public broadcaster CBC has appointed former development director Swin Chang to the CBC Kids content team as executive in charge of development and production, working with the
independent production community to seek out, create and curate preschool and tween content for CBC TV and CBC Gem, reporting to Marie McCann, senior director, children’s content.
Most recently director of development for Alibi Pivotal Kids, where she led the company’s new IP and talent sourcing, Chang was previously in the same role at Entertainment One Family, where she developed the animated comedy series “Winston Steinburger and Sir Dudley Ding Dong.”