Television

Australian pay-TV leader Foxtel has renewed and expanded its long-standing content and channels deal with WarnerMedia. The deal includes a new agreement to co-produce original local content in Australia. The agreement covers programming from WarnerMedia’s Warner Bros., HBO, HBO Max and WarnerMedia networks, and allows Foxtel to play the content on its broadcast and on-demand platforms.

U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV has furloughed 800 staff, comprising around 15% of its local workforce. The majority of the furloughs are staff at production arm ITV Studios, which has taken a major commercial hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, losing around 80% of its business. The business has said it is “taking part in other schemes

In ordinary times, Paul Mescal’s life would be dramatically different after starring in one of the buzziest TV shows of the year. But for the most part, not much as changed for the actor since Hulu’s premiere last week of “Normal People,” a sprawling love story about two Irish teenagers. The 24-year-old Mescal is self-isolating

Chris Pratt and Antoine Fuqua’s series adaptation of Jack Carr’s “The Terminal List” has found a home at Amazon with a series order, Variety has learned. Development of the series was first reported in February. Pratt will star in and executive produce under his Indivisible Pictures banner, while Fuqua will direct and executive produce via

In today’s TV news roundup, WWE announced the premiere date for “Undertaker: The Last Ride,” and Fox News has partnered with Spotify to bring its podcast catalogue to the streaming platform. DATES WWE Network has announced that its new docuseries, “Undertaker: The Last Ride,” will premiere May 10 at approximately 10 p.m. ET. The series gives

Variety’s new weekly series, “Hollywood How-To,” will tackle all things writing, with broader conversations about everything from crafting characters to navigating the writer’s room. Creator of the HBO series “Watchmen,” Damon Lindelof explains how he defied the “write what you know” myth for his new series. In this in-depth conversation with Variety the writer reveals

Noah Oppenheim was primed to gain oversight of all the operations of NBC News and MSNBC. Instead he has a new boss with those very responsibilities – and more. Oppenheim was named president of NBC News in February of 2017 and had been cited publicly by former NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke as his choice to

Disney Plus has reached 54.5 million subscribers worldwide, the company said Tuesday as it unveiled quarterly earnings that reflect the huge hit to the bottom line caused by the shutdown of Disney’s theme parks and other businesses. The subscriber update for Disney plus marks a gain of 4.5 million since April 8, when Disney disclosed

The team behind the “The Haunting of Bly Manor” at Netflix is now set to adapt the Christopher Pike novel “The Midnight Club” for the streamer, Variety has learned exclusively from sources. The book was originally published in 1994. It takes place at Rotterdam Home, a hospice for terminally ill teenagers. A group of patients begin

Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that as the company sees “encouraging signs” in return to normalcy in China amid the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak, it plans to reopen Shanghai Disneyland on May 11. Among the strict social distancing measures that will be implemented are masks for guests and employees, temperature checks, contact tracing and

Variety’s new weekly series, “Hollywood How-To,” will tackle all things writing, with conversations about everything from crafting characters to navigating the writer’s room.  There are few writers working in television today who have had a more varied (and venerated) career than Damon Lindelof. After working on the writing staff of CBS’s “Nash Bridges” and NBC’s

Variety’s new weekly series, “Hollywood How-To,” will tackle all things writing, with broader conversations about everything from crafting characters to navigating the writer’s room. The first chapter — “Conquering Writer’s Block” — aims at scaling the “wall” of lack of motivation of inspiration. Each video is paired with a longer, standalone conversation with creators diving

At a time when many TV companies have appeared wary of talking to advertisers, ViacomCBS believes it will have plenty to discuss. The newly merged company, which encompasses the CBS broadcast network as well as cable outlets like Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV, plans to hold two different streaming-video presentations for advertisers – one for

“Westworld” has gone offline for the time being, as its bumper season 3 finale delivered a small ratings boost from the penultimate episode, but was ultimately still down roughly 18% from the season 2 curtain call. Sunday’s episode, which featured multiple (potential) major character deaths, drew 1.8 million total viewers across all of HBO’s platforms,

Jean Smart is following up her icy turn in “Watchmen” with yet another series at WarnerMedia. The actress has been cast to star in a single-camera comedy from Mike Schur and “Broad City” alums Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, which has received a 10-episode order at HBO Max. Although it has no official

Following the mid-April announcement of Netflix’s COVID-19 relief fund allocations for Mexico and Brazil, the streaming giant has unveiled its plans for Colombia where it has partnered with the Colombian Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to extend aid to over 1,500 below-the-line workers in Colombia’s film and TV industry. To this end, Netflix

AMC Networks found a silver lining in the otherwise dismal end to the first quarter as pandemic shutdowns took a heavy toll. In releasing its first quarter earnings Tuesday, AMC Networks said subscriptions and viewership for its growing suite of niche streaming outlets — Sundance Now, Acorn, Shudder and Urban Movie Channel — have increased

Jason Bergsman has been named chief executive officer at Joe and Anthony Russo’s entertainment company AGBO. Bergsman, a veteran of Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group, will lead all strategy and business operations at the film and TV shop and report directly to the directing team behind “Avengers: Endgame.” Founded in 2017, the company is riding

The BBC has appointed Turner executive Patricia Hidalgo as its new director of children’s and education. Currently senior VP, chief content and creative officer at Turner EMEA, Hidalgo takes up her new role in September. She replaces Alice Webb, who announced in December she is taking up the role of CEO at Universal Music-backed Eagle

Netflix released the teaser trailer for Steve Carell’s new series “Space Force” on Tuesday, showing “The Office” star in his latest workplace comedy. “Space Force,” inspired by President Trump’s proposal for sixth branch of the military, centers around decorated pilot and four-star general Mark R. Naird (Carell), who has dreamed of running the Air Force,

The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition issued its annual report card for the 2018-2019 television season, examining ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox’s on-screen and off-screen representation of Asian Americans. ABC once again scored highest among the four major broadcast networks, though the media-watch organization noted that “the biggest gains for APAs now seem to be

At a time when Hollywood is focused on its streaming wars, Madison Avenue is getting further enmeshed in the data wars. As advertisers press for the use of increasingly granular data on consumer preferences and habits to help them place their commercials in just the right venue and at the most opportune moment, Interpublic Group

The Philippines government has ordered that ABS-CBN, the country’s largest media group, cease broadcasting on TV and radio. The move is widely seen as politically-motivated. ABS-CBN has been targeted by the country’s President Rodrigo Duterte since 2016, when he accused it of not airing his political campaign advertisements. The company’s networks have also shed light

Already a hit with critics, the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s “Normal People” is winning over audiences in the U.K. with more than 16.2 million requests for the series on catch-up service BBC iPlayer in its first week. Nearly five million of these requests come from the 16-34 age group, a coveted demographic for the

John Finlay has landed his first post-“Tiger King” role. The former zoo employee and Netflix star lends his voice to a commercial for an emergency preparedness brand called Judy. The company has a limited edition “Tiger Safe” emergency kit that cashes in on the “Tiger King” phenomenon — without mentioning its name — with a

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the fourth episode of “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart.” Last week on “The Bachelor presents: Listen to Your Heart,” the rose power went to a panel of judges, who eliminated Bekah Purifoy and Danny Padilla for their lack of chemistry onstage. After the performances,

HBO has dominated the Emmy race for years. Now, sibling streamer HBO Max is looking to get into the game. HBO Max launches on May 27 — just four days before the Television Academy’s May 31 cutoff for Emmy eligibility. But that’s still enough time for the streaming service to enter the awards race this

Starz Entertainment filed a federal lawsuit on Monday accusing MGM of a massive violation of exclusivity agreements, allowing hundreds movies and TV shows to run on rival platforms. According to the suit, the issue came to light last August, when a Starz employee noticed that “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” was available on Amazon Prime.

(SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you haven’t watched the Season 3 finale of “Good Girls.”) The third chapter of Beth, Ruby and Annie’s story came to a close when Season 3 of “Good Girls” wrapped up on Sunday night. Though NBC ordered 16 episodes, the show about good girls gone crime bosses ended

In today’s TV news roundup, HBO announced the premiere date for new docuseries “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” and Showtime released a first look at “Outcry,” premiering on July 5. DATES HBO has announced “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” will debut on June 28 at 10 p.m. The six-part docuseries, based on Michelle