Wednesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Wednesday, 3.07pm: Fifth Season reveals Hulu deals 

Hulu has struck a multi-title deal with Fifth Season across a raft of its scripted and unscripted titles.

Shows included are Roughcut TV’s comedy Big Boys (seasons 1 & 2 are now streaming), alongside docuseries Bad Host: Hunting the Couchsurfing Predator, which is from Lightbox.

Reality format Hot Yachts has also been acquired as has the third season of sitcom Run the Burbs, which will launch on Hulu this month. The first two seasons are already available on the service. The deals follow Hulu’s recent acquisition of feature Bones of Crows from Fifth Season. Read more

Wednesday, 12.23pm: Banijay picks up Disney+ Korean format

Banijay Entertainment has snapped up global format rights to Disney+ show My Name Is Gabriel (Mai Neim Ijeu Gabeuriel) from Korea’s TEO Corp.

The reality show, produced for JTBC and Disney+, takes celebrities out of their comfort zones and gives them a new identity through a life swap. Participants assume the life of someone else, in another country, where no one recognises them. In doing so, they experience living as their alter ego for three days.

TEO Corp is led by PD Kim Tae-ho (Infinite Challenge) and PD Jung Jong-yeon (The Devil’s Plan). 

Wednesday, 11.48am: French interview format heads to UK’s ITV

ITV in the UK has swooped for a French format that sees celebrities questioned by a group of inquisitive interviewers who are autistic, neurodivergent and/or learning disabled.

The Assembly will run as a 4 x 30-minute show and is being produced by Rockerdale Studios.

A pilot featuring actor Michael Sheen aired earlier this year on BBC1 and is an adaptation of French series Les Rencontres du Papotin, which was created by Kiosco TV and Quad Ten, launching in 2022. It has sold widely since, including to the ABC in Australia.

Wednesday, 11.03am: UKTV sets director of drama programming

BBC Studios-owned UKTV has appointed senior insights manager at ITV Emma Tibbetts as its director of programming for drama.

The appointment completes a trio of new programme director positions following the recent restructuring of UKTV’s channel director roles. Earlier this year, Adam Collings was appointed as director of programming for factual and factual entertainment, while Gerald Casey was appointed director of programming for comedy and entertainment.

It also cements UKTV’s ambitions to update its programming structure, which will see the new line-up of programme directors work to help integrate the broadcaster’s linear and VoD divisions to deliver a digital-first and audience-led strategy.

Wednesday, 10.16am: Sky Italy extends X Factor run

Sky Italia has agreed a two-year extension with Fremantle for the X Factor ensuring a further two series of the music competition.

The pay-TV company will remain the exclusive home for the show, which airs as a Sky original in Italy. Its most recent series finale scored its best rating for four years averaging 1.8m viewers, up 51% compared to the previous run, according to Fremantle. Read more

Wednesday, 9.36am: CBC, Histoire & VRT among ITVS deals 

Curve Media BBC2 eco doc On Thin Ice: Putin’s War on Greenpeace is heading to CBC in Canada amid a raft of deals secured by ITV Studios.

The series, which recently scored a Broadcast Awards 2025 nomination, will head to the Canadian PSB alongside VRT NV in Belgium, TVNZ in New Zealand, Histoire in France and ERR in Estonia.

The acquisitions come as ITVS also secured deals for true-crime, history and natural history titles My Wife, My Abuser: Captured on Camera, TikTok: Murders Gone Viral, Pompeii: The Last Mysteries, and Predator v Prey. The deals were revealed at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in Marrakesh. Read more

Wednesday, 8.01am: Warner Bros TV extends Bad Robot deal

Warner Bros Television has struck a new first-look pact with JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot.

The deal runs for two years and is non-exclusive across both TV and film, according to multiple US reports. A previous five-year partnership had been struck in 2019 and was worth an estimated $250m.

Bad Robot’s slate includes Apple TV+ drama Presumed Innocent and doc Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, although Warner Bros Discovery pulled Abrams’ high-profile Demimonde and Constantine amid broader cost-cutting. Abrams first signed with Warner Bros in 2006.