All the latest news from the global content industry on Monday, 17 February

 

Monday, 11.49am: FAST operator wedotv moves into Asia

Free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) operator, WedoTV, is moving into the Asian market with the launch of four of its proprietary channels on Indonesian video platform Dens.TV.

The deal will see wedotv movies, wedotv BIG stories, wedotv amor, and wedotv sports, added to the Dens.TV platform. Wedotv movies is a female-skewing movie service; wedotv BIG stories focuses on outdoor survival, reality, and cooking shows; wedotv amor features popular telenovelas; and wedotv sports provides live coverage of globally popular sports, as well as documentaries on renowned sports figures.

Wedotv’s Asian expansion is being led by Greg Ang and Harold Gronenthal, who have been managing the push via GangTV, Ang’s long-standing Singapore-based content and distribution company.

 

Monday, 11.31am: Max extends medial drama The Pitt

Warner Bros Discovery streamer Max has ordered a second season of Noah Wyle-starring The Pitt before the first has completed its run.

The medical drama is from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television, and was created by R. Scott Gemmill.

The first season, which wraps 10 April, claims to offer a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in the US, seen through the lens of frontline worker in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Each episode follows an hour of Dr. Robby’s (Wyle) 15-hour shift as the chief attendant in Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital’s emergency room.

 

Monday, 10.13am: UK’s C4 send Line of Duty star to Vegas

Martin Compston is making his Channel 4 debut in a Las Vegas-set travelogue from Tern TV.

The Rig actor fronts Martin Compston Living Las Vegas, showing off his adopted hometown where he has lived for five years.

In the 3 x 60-minute series, Compston will offer viewers a tour of the glitz, grit and grandeur of Sin City, from hidden culinary spots and adrenaline-fulled adventures to surprises in the Mojave Desert.

Martin Compston Living Las Vegas was acquired for C4 by senior acquisitions manager Polly Scates and is executive produced by David Marshall, with Rod Tamime serving as series director and Emma Fentiman producing.

The series is co-funded by The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (Vegas Tourism) and BossaNova Media, the latter of which will handle international distribution. It is expected to air later this year.

 

Monday 10.02am: Bruce Parry to return to BBC2’s Tribe

Bruce Parry is to front another series of BBC2’s critically-acclaimed Tribe, 20 years after it first aired.

The new series is a big win for Bristol-based Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch indie Frank Films which will produce the 3 x 60-minute Tribe With Bruce Parry.

It will see the filmmaker and indigenous rights advocate - who has been away from TV for over a decade - travel to some of the most remote locations in the world to understand how different tribal communities live.

Three series of Tribe, co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel, aired between 2005 and 2007, following Parry living with 15 tribal communities. The series was twice nominated for the Bafta Best Factual Series gong.

 

Monday, 8.59am: Amazon MGM Studios strikes The Chosen deal 

Amazon MGM Studios has struck a far-reaching deal with US-based 5&2 Studios that hands streamer Prime Video exclusive US rights to The Chosen, the crowdfunded drama about the life of Jesus Christ.

The agreement with the Dallas Jenkins-led firm includes all five seasons, along with rights to the upcoming sixth and seventh seasons, which will round out the show.

Prime Video has also snagged rights to unscripted show The Chosen in The Wild With Bear Grylls, with distribution led by Lionsgate, which also sells the drama.

Amazon MGM Studios has also agreed a first-look deal across TV series and movies with 5&2, with the moves coming ahead of The Chosen’s fifth season, which debuts theatrically in March. It will then be available in the US on Prime Video, which also has rights in the UK, Lat Am, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and sub-Saharan Africa.