Monday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Monday, 2.15pm: Sky and WBD thrash out deal for Max launch in UK & Ireland

Sky in the UK & Ireland have come to an agreement with Warner Bros Discovery for an expanded long-term content partnership, putting to bed months of speculation about their continued working relationship.

The distribution and bundle agreement will see the ad-supported version of WBD’s flagship streamer Max added to Sky customers’ package at no extra cost when the US giant launches the service in the UK 2026. The deal is, however, non-exclusive.

It means that Sky subscribers will be able to continue accessing the HBO content which was agreed in the long-term output deal in 2019, as well as a broader range of WBD programming available on Max, including forthcoming tentpoles like the Harry Potter series. As part of the deal, the legal matters between the companies relating to the Potter series have been settled. 

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Monday, 1.33pm: UK’s BBC4 picks up BBC Alba’s biggest drama yet

BBC4 has acquired Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba’s biggest drama yet, An t-Eilean (The Island), in a deal overseen by All3Media International.

First announced by Broadcast, the £1m-per-ep crime thriller from Annika indie Black Camel Pictures is set for release next year.

The 4 x 50-minute drama combines Gaelic and English dialogue and will be set in the Western Isles of Scotland. Read more

Monday, 12.24pm: Michelle Obama doc director to helm Victoria Beckham series

The director behind Netflix Michelle Obama single Becoming has been tapped to helm the streamer’s forthcoming Victoria Beckham verité ob doc.

Nadia Hallgren is directing the Studio 99 and Dorothy St Pictures-produced series having previously turned her lens towards the former first lady for the Emmy-nominated 2020 film Becoming, which intimately explored the life of Obama during a period of personal and societal change.

Monday, 11.56am: UK’s Channel 4 preps Michael Jackson child abuse trial docuseries

Michael Jackson’s 2005 child sexual abuse trial is the focus of a multipart series from Wonderhood Studios for the UK’s Channel 4.

The Trial of Michael Jackson (w/t) is a 4 x60-minute documentary that will delve into the four-month long so-called ‘trial of the century’.

During the trial, the likes of Macauley Culkin and Jay Leno appeared as witnesses for the defence, alongside choreographer Wade Robson, who later featured in C4/HBO doc Escaping Neverland, accusing Jackson of sexual abuse. The singer strenuously denied molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo and was eventually found not guilty of all changes.

The Trial of Michael Jackson (w/t) is the latest C4 commission for Wonderhood, which is also behind The Salisbury Poisonings – The Poison and the Perfume (w/t) and Poison (w/t). 

Monday, 10.37am: MBC Studios, Telfaz11 forge partnership for Saudi stories

MBC Studios, the production arm of Middle East broadcaster MBC Group, has partnered with leading Saudi production firm Telfaz11 Studios to co-develop and co-produce multiple projects built around Saudi storytelling.

While details of initial projects have to be revealed, an announcement made during Red Sea International Film Festival said that one was “based on a compelling true story”, which highlighted the shared ambition of both companies to create “meaningful content that captures the richness of Saudi culture and resonates deeply with audiences across the region”.

Monday, 10.14am: Blue Ant and WildBear greenlight factual trio

Last week Broadcast International heard from Blue Ant Studios’ Ben Barrett about his company’s self-financing and commissioning plans.

Today, the Canadian giant has unveiled an innovative creative partnership with Australian outfit WildBear Entertainment to greenlight a trio of factual series, Broadcast can reveal.

The pact will see natural history specialists WildBear broaden its programming slate with specialist factual history and science series Secrets of the Lost Cities (6 x 60 minutes), World War II: History on Trial (6 x 60 minutes) and Engineering by Catastrophe (6 x 60 minutes). Read more

Monday, 9.56am: I Am Nasrine director unveils Nordic Fox

Tina Gharavi, founder of Bridge + Tunnel Productions and director of I Am Nasrine, has picked up rights to Sólveig Pálsdóttir’s Icelandic novel Refurinn and is adapting it for TV.

The Fox is being set as a six-parter and explores the mysterious disappearance of a Sri Lankan woman, who arrives in a small Icelandic outpost, prompting a suspended detective from Reykjavik to take up the case as he looks to revive his career.

Gharavi spent time with Pálsdóttir developing the show, with the Refurinn novel part of her Ice & Crime series of thrillers featuring detective Guðgeir Fransson.  

Monday, 9.34am: Pernel sells Egypt as World Congress starts

Cineflix Rights has announced multiple deals for Pernel Media’s docuseries Ramses The Great: King of Ancient Egypt, as this year’s World Congress of Science and Factual Producers opens it doors in Marrakesh.

Hearst Networks UK and EMEA has acquired the series for multiple territories including the UK, Ireland, Benelux, Czech Republic, Middle East, and Sub Saharan Africa.

Viasat has bought the series for its History Channel across the Nordics, Baltics, as well as Central and Eastern Europe, while other sales include Mediaset Italy for its FOCUS Channel, AMC History Iberia, Warner Bros. Discovery Spain’s channel DMAX, and Radio-Canada’s channel Explora.

The announcement of the deals comes as Cineflix Rights deepens its partnership with Pernel Media with the acquisition of two new blue-chip history series to be launched next year.

Ramses The Great: King of Ancient Egypt, which was produced for Planète+ & C8 in France, features cutting-edge science and access to the latest archaeological discoveries to expose the man behind the myth.

Monday 9.05am: UK’s Channel 4 to spin off A Place in the Sun

Channel 4 in the UK is spinning off its long-running property show A Place In The Sun with a series following host Jasmine Harman.

Jasmine’s Renovation In The Sun is from Freeform Productions and will follow Harman and her husband Jon as they purchase and renovate a rundown Spanish villa.

The 15-parter will follow the duo and their two children over the course of a year, chronicling the highs and lows of the family’s renovation project as they attempt to turn the dilapidated property into a family home.