Television

CANNES — Televisió de Cataunya (TVC), best known abroad for its biggest linear channel, TV3, will re-launch on Oct. 30 as 3CAT, the name also of its new AVOD platform, bowing as the driver of the most far-reaching digital makeover of any TV operator in Spain. Also incorporating Catalunya Radio, the Catalan-language 3CAT reflects a

Fremantle has launched dedicated free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel, The Jamie Oliver Channel, for U.S. audiences on free streaming television service Pluto TV. The deal was revealed on Wednesday by Fremantle executives, Jens Richter, CEO of commercial and international and Laura Florence, senior VP global FAST Channels, at the Mipcom market’s FAST and Global Summit. The

Veteran RAI exec Adriano De Maio has been trying to shake things up at the Italian state broadcaster since last May, when he was appointed head of film and drama. To contend with the unstoppable disruption caused by digital and streaming in Italy’s TV landscape, De Maio is trying to steer RAI toward programming that

Cyril Metzger and Manon Clavel are set to star in Netflix‘s upcoming hotel period drama “Winter Palace.” Metzger (“Happening”) will play André Morel while Clavel (“The Truth”) is set to star as Rose. Together they portray a wealthy married couple who are guests at the hotel at the centre of the show. Simon Ludders (“Bridgerton”)

“House of Kardashian,” the documentary about television’s most famous family, is heading to Australia among other territories. FOXTEL have picked up the three-part doc series, made by 72 Films, for the Australian market. The show was also bought by GAIN in Turkey. Fremantle, who are repping international sales outside of the U.S. for the show,

Phyllis Coates, the first actor to portray Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane on television, died on Oct. 11 in Woodland Hills, Calif., her daughter Laura Press confirmed to the New York Times. She was 96. Coates starred as Lois Lane in the “Adventures of Superman” when the series first aired in 1952, only to leave

Many dancers made a big shift during Disney night on “Dancing With the Stars.” Adrian Peterson finally allowed the audiences to see a softer side during his Viennese Waltz — something he’s also been working on at home, with a newborn baby. While he said it’s been a challenging time of his life, the focus

It’s hard to overstate the late 1970s stardom of Suzanne Somers, who died on Oct. 15 in Palm Springs at 76. “Three’s Company” made Somers one of the most popular faces on TV, thanks to Chrissy Snow, the naive and charming character she played on the ABC sitcom. Somers fought for equal pay decades before

“Saturday Night Live” is back in full swing. After Pete Davidson returned to the late night comedy to open Season 49 alongside musical guest Ice Spice, with Bad Bunny pulling double duty the week after, “SNL” has set the lineup for the Oct. 28 episode: Nate Bargatze will make his hosting debut, joined by Foo

Netflix is offering a fiery new look at the upcoming “Avatar: The Last Airbender” live-action series. The streamer has released new first look photos of multiple Fire Nation characters, specifically: Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai (see below), Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as General Iroh (above), Ken Leung as Commander Zhao (see below), and Elizabeth

Five years after the launch of sales company Madd Entertainment as a partnership between Turkish TV giants Medyapim (“Mother”) and Ay Yapim (“Endless Love”), Madd is at Mipcom not only as Turkey’s top content exporter but also as an innovative industry driver thanks to a raft of deals that take the country’s booming TV business

Brazilian media giant Globo has sold the first international adaptation rights to its biggest telenovela hit in recent years, “Brazil Avenue” (“Avenida Brasil”) to Ay Yapım, one of the most prominent daily series producers of Turkey. Madd Entertainment, a joint venture of Medyapim (“Mother”) and Ay Yapim (“Endless Love”), will distribute the adaptation worldwide. The

“It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” is right around the corner. Lifetime‘s annual holiday movie event kicks off Saturday, Nov. 18 with 12 new movies, airing every Saturday and Sunday until Christmas. While last year, the lineup included 26 new films, this year’s slate leans into nostalgia and reunions. Highlights include Vivica A. Fox and Jackée Harry

The rise of the Adidas empire is getting the limited series treatment after independent film producer Niels Juul (“Ferrari,” “Killers of the Flower Moon”) inked a deal with the family of the brand’s founder, Adi Dassler. Juul’s No Fat Ego Productions and AD Legacy, the company set up by the Dassler’s grandchildren, have entered into

The Mediapro Studio will shoot from November Season 3 of “The Head,” its biggest international hit, filming in the Sahara Desert with John Lynch (“The Fall”) and  Katharine O’Donnelly (“Mary Queen of Scots), attached once more to star.  Olivia Morris also returns to her role as Rachel Russo, the morally conscionable daughter of ambition-crazed biologist Arthur

Drew and Jonathan Scott are building up more (intellectual) property at HGTV. The massively popular home-reno and real estate siblings have set two new series with their longtime Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable home, “Backed by the Bros” and “Don’t Hate Your House With the Property Brothers,” both working titles. Additionally, HGTV has renewed the brothers’

Like other streamers, Netflix seems eager to get into live sports. But it isn’t quite ready to start paying the massive rights fees that such activity usually requires. So, the streaming giant intends to launch a “Netflix Cup,” a golf tournament that will pit race-car drivers from its popular Formula 1 documentary series “Drive to

Kate Ward joined BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial arm, last year to oversee its factual portfolio. Ward moved over from Vice Studios, where she was global president, and has jumped into the challenge of stewarding one of the world’s most powerful factual brands, which includes 66-year-old leader in the space the BBC’s Natural History Unit

Classic cult film streamer Cultpix has signed a content rights partnership with the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), formerly known as the Taiwan Film Institute. The agreement, the fast-growing streamer’s 50th, will kick off with two films, “The Fantasy of the Deer Warrior” (1961) and “The Bride Who Returned from Hell” (1965), which have both been

Banijay has launched a global accelerator program aimed at supporting female creators developing promising unscripted formats. The company has also commissioned a first-ever study on women in the non-fiction space. Named Banijay Launch, the competitive program was unveiled at Mipcom by Sharon Levy, Endemol Shine North America CEO and James Townley, Banijay’s CCO of development. Levy and

“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” is based on Holly Jackson’s bestselling book-series about 17-year-old Pip, who finds herself drawn into a murder investigation when she begins to suspect the police have got the wrong man. Moonage Pictures are now adapting the book alongside the BBC (who own a minority stake in Moonage) and German

“Gangs of London” has officially started production on Season 3, with Sky and AMC+ revealing the director and writer of the show’s next installment. South Korea’s Kim Hong Sun (“Project Wolf Hunting”) will direct and executive produce the upcoming eight-episode season, with Peter McKenna (“Kin”) serving as lead writer and executive producer. Kim’s most recent

This year’s edition of the View Conference, an English-speaking event taking place between Oct. 15-20 in the Italian city of Turin, has been greatly influenced by some of the most urgent questions permeating the entertainment industry today. A world-class event on animation, VFX, games, AR, VR, XR, MR, virtual production, Metaverse and immersive media, the

“Motherland” star Anna Maxwell Martin has joined the cast of BBC drama “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” Variety can reveal. She is set to play Leanne, the mother of lead character Pip Fitz-Amobi, who will be portrayed on screen by “Wednesday’s” Emma Myers. Gary Beadle (“Small Axe”) plays Pip’s father Victor while Mathew Baynton

“Three,” a socially relevant, teen musical drama that celebrates diversity is the latest production from Paramount’s Israeli shingle Ananey Studios. Making its debut at Mipcom and sold internationally by Beta Film, the show follows three 16-year-olds in Tel Aviv from very different cultural backgrounds: Yasmin, an Arab Muslim girl; Ella, a Jewish girl and daughter

Vienna-based Terra Mater Studios, a subsidiary of Red Bull, is developing its first fictional series “Salon of Sugar.” The historical drama will focus on Berta Zuckerkandl, born in 1864: a writer, journalist and a hostess of an important literary salon in Vienna, frequented by the likes of Auguste Rodin, Gustav Klimt, director Max Reinhardt or

Any new show by producer Frank Doelger – whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome” – must rate as an event. That event takes place Oct. 17 at Cannes Mipcom trade fair, with the world premiere of “Concordia,” on which Doelger serves as executive producer and showrunner. Produced by Intaglio

Stuart Ford’s AGC Television has boarded the series adaptation of F.G. Haghenbeck’s novel, ‘Primavera del Mal’ (‘The Spring of Evil’) alongside Mexican-American filmmaker Fernando Lebrija of Cielo Content and Irreversible Pictures.  To be retitled “Amapola,” the upcoming historical drama series is set in the early 20th century when the Chinese held sway over the drug trade along the Mexican-U.S. border.  In

As commissioning budgets continue to tighten, and with content powerhouses feeling the economic squeeze, there is renewed pressure to think laterally in the international formats business. “Producers are struggling to survive. People need to up their game and think outside the box in terms of their business models and how shows are made,” says Jan

In a deal unveiled at Mipcom, Movistar Plus+ International, the prominent Spanish pay TV/SVOD platform’s sales division, announced at Mipcom a key sale to HBO Latin America of series “La Mesías,” hailed as the buzziest title at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September. The series is written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and