Tuesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Tuesday, 4.42pm: C4 chair Ian Cheshire to step down

UK regulator Ofcom will soon be on the hunt for a new Channel 4 chair as current incumbent Ian Cheshire is set to leave the post in the coming months.

Cheshire will depart at the end of his term on 10 April 2025 after three years in the role. His successor will hold the role for the same length of time until April 2028, subject to the approval of culture secretary Lisa Nandy.

Tuesday, 3.30pm: Pioneer’s creative director Thomas Viner exits

Pioneer Productions creative director Thomas Viner has exited the company after eight years, Broadcast has learned.

Viner’s departure follows that of former Pioneer chief executive Jonathan Hewes, who left at the beginning of the year. Broadcast understands the Tinopolis label is continuing with head of factual Peter Collins, who joined the business in 2018. Read more

Tuesday, 12.34pm: WBD eyes Max growth in UK as Sky loses HBO exclusivity

Warner Bros Discovery UK chief Andrew Georgiou spoke to Broadcast International following his company’s freshly minted deal with Sky, describing it as a “very different” type of partnership to previous incarnations.

The pact means HBO shows will become available to local viewers outside of the pay TV operator’s universe for the first time in decades and the WBD boss said deals with other providers would be unveiled in the “coming weeks and months”. Read more

Tuesday, 11.58am: Trump ‘not an existential threat’ to US public service broadcasting

US public service broadcasting will not be threatened by the return of Donald Trump as president because of the budgetary autonomy local TV stations command and the even split of viewership among Republicans and Democrats, a conference has heard.

Speaking at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in Marrakesh yesterday (11 December), Chris Schmidt, co-exec producer of the science-focused Nova strand, for public media outfit WGBH, said the public system – which comprises many local TV stations – is “not as centralised” as big commercial networks and have substantial autonomy over their budgets. Read more

Tuesday, 11.20am: UK’s C4 to remake A Woman of Substance

Channel 4 in the UK has ordered a remake of its seminal drama A Woman of Substance, based on the bestselling Barbara Taylor Bradford novel of the same name.

The new show is set to arrive four decades after C4’s original three-part adaptation. Banijay label The Forge Entertainment is behind the series, having acquired the rights to Taylor Bradford’s raunchy books three years ago.

Tuesday, 10.08am: UK shows drive Golden Globes noms

British shows and talent have been nominated for multiple Golden Globes in 2025, with British series making up a third of the nominees for best drama series.

See-Saw Films’ Slow Horses and Carnival’s The Day of the Jackal are both up for the Best television series – drama award, going against The Diplomat (Netflix), Mr & Mrs Smith (Amazon Prime Video), Shogun (FX) and Squid Game series two (Netflix).

Meanwhile, Clerkenwell’s Baby Reindeer is up for three awards - Best television limited series, anthology series, or motion picture made for television, Best performance by a male actor in a limited series for creator Richard Gadd and Best performance by a female actor in a limited series for Jessica Gunning. Read more

Tuesday, 9.23am: Spanish animation duo unveil Canary Islands’ studio

Independent Spanish animation powerhouses Ánima Kitchent and Able & Baker have teamed up to launch a new animation service studio based in the Canary Islands.

Monkeys & Dinos will capitalise on the Canary Islands’ tax incentives, which include rebates of up to 50% on animation production. The nascent company is gearing up for several projects set to begin production in 2025, with the studio aiming to position itself as a strategic player in the international animation landscape.

Ánima Kitchent and Able & Baker are two of the best known animation companies in Spain, with the former company producing shows including Cuquin (formerly known as Familia Telerin and Cleo & Cuquin) and Lea & Pop. It also operated YouTube channels that have cumulatively claimed more than six billion views.

Able & Baker is based out of Madrid and has been behind Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots and worked on hit series Dragon Rider.