Breaking: Latest news, deals & hires

Monday, 2.17pm: Fox Corp buys creator economy firm 

Fox Corporation has acquired direct-to-consumer outfit Red Seat Ventures, the US-based company that assists talent to promote themselves across podcasts, video, subscription products and live events.

Red Seat will operate as a standalone entity within Fox’s Tubi Media Group, with the latter’s chief exec Paul Cheesbrough becoming chairman. The Red Seat Ventures executive team, led by founding partners Chris Balfe and Kevin Balfe, will continue to lead and operate the business.

Red Seat currently has 17 creator-led shows that cumulatively drove over 200 million monthly active views in November, according to the company. 

Monday, 1.08pm: BBC sends Louis Theroux to the West Bank

Louis Theroux will travel to the West Bank to meet members of the ultra-nationalist community of Israeli settlers based there, in a new doc for BBC2 and iPlayer.

Produced by the journalist’s indie Mindhouse, the film will be directed by Josh Baker (The Shamima Begum Story, I Am Not a Monster podcast) and its executive producers are Fiona Stourton and Arron Fellows.

The settlements are held to be illegal under international law, but have been protected by the army, the police, and the Israeli government. 

Monday, 12.13am: UK’s Channel 4 orders more Big Mood

Big Mood, Dancing Ledge’s comedy about a pair of co-dependent best friends, has been recommissioned for a second series on Channel 4 in the UK.

Big Mood was C4 streaming’s highest-rated new comedy launch since Derry Girls and has been reordered by head of comedy Charlie Perkins.

The show is written and created by Camilla Whitehill, with Lotte Beasley Mestriner executive producing alongside Dancing Ledge’s Chris Carey and Laurence Bowen, with Rebecca Asher directing.

Monday, 11.23am: Paw Patrol firm hires Kartoon exec

Canadian children’s firm Spin Master Entertainment has hired former Kartoon Studios exec Lindsay Brown as senior director of global distribution.

Brown’s remit includes oversight of shows such as Unicorn Academy and the Paw Patrol franchise.

Spin Master has also hired Jill Cimorelli as senior manager of strategic audience engagement, with the duo reporting into vice president of global distribution, Caroline Tyre.

Monday, 10.23am: ITV moves into The Neighbourhood

The UK’s ITV has ordered a reality series fronted by Graham Norton that will see families competing in a street-sized competition as they compete in challenges and vote each other out.

The challenges they play in public will change the dynamics behind closed doors, so to win families must defeat their neighbours while staying popular on the street.

The format was developed by Lifted Entertainment’s development team led by Kat Hebden and development executive Ed Daggett, alongside the Garden’s director of development Mike Philo.

ITV Studios-owned duo Lifted Entertainment and The Garden are to co-produce.

Monday, 9.46am: BBC Studios to take Zog global

BBC Studios Kids & Family has picked up international distribution rights to Magic Light Pictures’ animated TV series Zog.

The 52 x 11 minute show is aimed at 4-6 year olds and based on the books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, published by Scholastic.

The series tracks a dragon named Zog and was launched following Magic Light’s 2018 family special, Zog, and its 2020 sequel, Zog and the Flying Doctors. The CG-animated series follows Zog, Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout as they come together to care for the weird and wonderful inhabitants of their fantastical world.

The deal excludes the UK and Germany, where the BBC and ZDF respectively are commissioners, but includes all US consumer products and licensing rights for the TV series. Magic Light Pictures continues to represent all Zog licensing rights in UK and Europe alongside its global Gruffalo and Friends distribution and licensing programme. 

Monday, 8.32am: Seven strikes Radar deal on YouTube

Seven Network has struck an agreement with WTFN’s digital business, Radar, that will see the company take on management of the Australian broadcaster’s Great Home Ideas channels on YouTube and Facebook.

Radar will relaunch the channels with a new programming schedule targeting growth and subscribers. Great Home Ideas, which covers DIY, food, garden, lifestyle and pet content, launched on YouTube in 2012 and has almost 950,000 subscribers.

Once Great Home Ideas is relaunched, the partners will explore further ways to maximise opportunities for Seven content. Conversations are already underway for WTFN to utilise and re-package existing Better Homes and Gardens content to create new lifestyle shows for Fred Media to distribute internationally.

Radar is behind more than 30 owned and third-party channels, including Bondi Vet, The Dog Whisperer and Oceanliner Designs.