Tuesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Tuesday, 4.55pm: Korea’s Coupang to launch Paramount+ portal

South Korean streamer Coupang Play has struck a deal to provide a Paramount+ branded destination on the service.

It will launch early next year and provide access to shows such as Dexter, Fire Country, Tulsa King and the NCIS franchises.

The deal was struck via Paramount Global Content Distribution, which has forged similar pacts with Cosmote in Greece, Streamz in Belgium, MultiChoice in Africa, JioCinema in India, Mono in Thailand, beIN in the Middle East and North Africa, and Blast TV in the Philippines.

Tuesday, 4.47pm: Sky, Starz return to Sweetpea

The UK’s Sky has recommissioned Sweetpea for a second run with US cable network Starz again boarding the dark dramedy.

The Sky Atlantic and Now thriller will see Ella Purnell return as protagonist Rhiannon Lewis, whose recently discovered thirst for violent retribution continues with a vengeance.

Sweetpea is produced by See-Saw Films and sub-label Fanboy in association with Sky Studios. It was snapped up by Starz over the summer with the Lionsgate-owned company launching the six-part series as an original title. Read more

Tuesday, 1.51pm: UK’s BBC pulls MasterChef specials

The BBC has changed its position on airing the MasterChef Christmas specials and has now announced that it is pulling the festive episodes.  

The corporation had previously stated that it planned to go ahead with the scheduled Christmas specials which included a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a MasterChef Meets Strictly Festive Extravaganza.  

However, it has now been confirmed that the festive specials will not be aired.  

Tuesday, 11.58am: UK streamer Freely adds four channels

AMC Networks International UK, PBS America, GB News and QVC will be available from next year on the UK’s free-to-view streaming service Freely.

Freely launched earlier this year and is backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It enables viewers to stream live TV channels alongside on-demand content for free on their smart TVs via wi-fi.

The quartet of channels will bring the number of live channels available to stream to 40, including PSBs, C5, S4C, STV and UKTV.

Tuesday, 11.35am: TelevisaUnivision rejigs amid job cuts

Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision revealed it is cutting its workforce by several hundred and restructuring its executive ranks as it looks to bring its linear and streaming operations closer together.

The Daniel Alegre-led company employs just over 13,000 staff, with a mid-to-high single-digit percentage of employees expected to be let go, while a new global content division is also being created. Read more

Tuesday, 10.16am: Ireland’s RTÉ, BBC meet Walsh Sisters

Irish public broadcaster RTÉ has ordered The Walsh Sisters, a returnable drama series that has also been picked up by the BBC.

The series has been inspired by five of the novels from Irish author Marian Keyes, which track the chaotic, dysfunctional but deeply loveable Walsh family of five sisters, a devout mother and a bemused father.

The show is being produced by London-based Cuba Pictures and Ireland’s Metropolitan Films International, in association with the BBC and Screen Ireland. Cineflix Rights sells globally on the six-parter. It will be directed by Ian FitzGibbon (Moone Boy) and is being adapted by Stefanie Preissner, who writes four eps. Kefi Chadwick (Rivals) completes the team with two episodes.

The series shoots in early 2025 for an autumn launch on RTÉ followed by BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Read more

Tuesday, 10.01am: Canada’s Corus picks up Slice deal 

Corus Entertainment in Canada has picked up more than 80 hours of lifestyle and entertainment shows from the US and the UK for Slice and the newly rebranded channels Flavour Network and Home Network.

The deal will see ITV Studios shows including two seasons of business reality series Side Hustlers heading to Canada. The programme was produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and originally made for the Roku Channel.

Other pick-ups include Channel 4’s Worst House On The Street and Can’t Sell, Must Sell, as well as all Plimsoll Productions shows featuring celebrity chef Marcus Wareing, including the travel/cuisine hybrids Marcus In The Med: Mallorca and Simply Provence. Ainsley’s Great Garden Cook Off and Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain are among other deals, all of which were brokered on behalf of ITVS by Craig Bohland, VP of sales in Canada.

Tuesday, 9.13am: Sundance Now in US snags Aussie drama

Sundance Now in the US and Canada has acquired Scrublands: Silver following a deal with Sphere Abacus for the Australia drama.

The four-parter is the sequel to Scrublands and is based on the novel of the same named, written by Chris Hammer. It was produced for Aussie streamer Stan by Easy Tiger in association with Third Act Stories. 

The first season also prevoiusly sold to Sundance Now in the US and Canada, as well as the BBC (UK), Warner Bros. Discovery (New Zealand), RTL (Germany), RTE (Ireland), Media4Fun (Poland) and Cosmote TV (Greece).

Tuesday, 9.05am: Blue Ant ups Nick Solowski

More news out of ATF this morning, with Blue Ant Studios promoting Nick Solowski to become VP of international sales.

Based in Toronto, Solowski reports jointly to Jon Penn, managing director for APAC at Blue Ant Media, and Bryan Gabourie, SVP of international sales & partnerships at Blue Ant Studios.

Solowski has been with Blue Ant for almost eight years and was most recently senior director of international sales & acquisitions, with a remit across Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, China and Canada.

In related news, Blue Ant has unveiled a raft of sales, with Australia’s Network Ten acquiring Humble Bee Films’ Airborne, Nine Network buying current affairs documentary Trump: A Second Chance? and SBS snagging rights to Imagine Documentaries’ Stormy and Playboy Bunny Murder, from Soho Studios and Future Studios.

Among a flurry of other deals, New Zealand’s TVNZ has licensed Charles III: The Coronation Year and World’s Most Luxurious Retirement Homes.

Tuesday, 8.55am: Keshet Int’l & Woodcut pair for Aussie FAST channel  

Keshet International (KI), Woodcut International and the Seven Network in Australia are launching a FAST channel dedicated to true crime.

True Crime Files is launching today on streaming platform 7plus and will carry shows such as Surviving a Serial Killer, How I Caught the Killer and The Killer Within, following a deal between KI and Woodcut international.

KI has also struck a separate deal with 7plus that will see the platform picking up shows such as World’s Most Evil Killers, Jo Frost on Killer Kids and Murdered in the Line of Duty. The trio are produced by UK-based Woodcut Media. 

Tuesday, 8.25am: ATF kicks off in Singapore

Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) kicked off earlier today in Singapore, with companies including the new-look ABS-CBN Studios in attendance.

The Philippines-based entertainment firm is exhibiting at ATF under its new moniker for the first time (it was previously known as simply ABC-CBN) and is looking for coproduction partners for supernatural show Hysteria. The film is written by Jaymar Santos Castro and is part of ATF’s Horror Pitch.

Tuesday, 8.23am: BossaNova picks up serial killer doc

UK-based distributor and financier BossaNova Media has acquired worldwide rights to crime documentary Bobby, Danny & Atlanta Tim: An American Serial Killer.

The deal for the two-parter was struck via a new partnership with UK indie Revolutionary Leader, which was launched in 2021 by true-crime director/producer Thomas Leader. 

The show, which launched internationally at MIPCOM, tells the story of Steven Lorenzo and Scott Schweickert who, over a 48-hour period in 2003, drugged, tortured and murdered two gay men at Lorenzo’s home in Tampa, Florida.