Paramount Escalates Fight Over Warner Bros. Discovery Merger - Paramount is seeking a US$1.88 billion bond as legal challenges continue over its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Gillian Anderson Says Sony Dropped The Salt Path - Anderson says Sony abandoned plans to distribute the film adaptation following controversy surrounding the memoir on which it is based.
MPA and ByteDance Strike AI Copyright Agreement - The deal establishes protections governing how generative AI tools across TikTok and related platforms interact with film and television intellectual property.
Sony Pictures Networks India Unveils Major Content Push - CEO Gaurav Banerjee revealed a slate spanning entertainment, drama, sport and AI-enhanced programming.
RTL Faces Brand Strategy Questions After Sky Germany Takeover - RTL is weighing how to position Sky and Wow as it integrates operations following the acquisition.
Rajkumar Hirani’s Pritam and Pedro Becomes India’s Most-Watched Web Series of 2026 - The cybercrime comedy-thriller has attracted 23 million viewers and is projected to reach nearly 27 million.
BBC to Spotlight Global Franchise Building at MIPCOM Cannes - BBC executives will outline the strategies behind international brands including Bluey, Doctor Who and Dancing with the Stars.
Paramount+ Doubles Down on Female-Led Dramas and Franchise Hits - The streamer says future investment will focus on female-led series, genre programming and established franchises.
Netflix Hires Katie Martin Kelley to Lead Film Communications - The former Warner Bros. executive will oversee communications for Netflix’s global film division.
HBO Renews It: Welcome to Derry for Season Two - The Stephen King prequel series will return with a new chapter set in 1935 during the Great Depression.
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Gillian Anderson says Sony abandoned plans to distribute “The Salt Path” after last summer’s scandal over alleged fabrications in the memoir behind it. The film, starring Anderson and Jason Isaacs, adapts Ray and Moth Winn’s book about a couple who lose their home to repossession and, following Moth’s terminal diagnosis, walk England’s south coast, emerging stronger and with a renewed sense of purpose. Read More
Sony Pictures Networks India CEO Gaurav Banerjee unveiled a festive slate signalling clear strategic intent. KBC Season 18 with Amitabh Bachchan is on air, now infused with artificial intelligence under the tagline “Sochna Padega.” Cricket captain Rohit Sharma fronts a family entertainment show launching in September on SET and SonyLIV, Ajay Devgn headlines a rebooted Crime Patrol 2026, Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa host Indian Game Show, and Hansal Mehta’s Scam 2010 advances despite earlier legal noise. Read More
Rebecca Hanson, director-general of the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), says IBC remains a key event for understanding the future of broadcasting. Attending since 2023, Hanson highlights the conference programme, technology showcases and meetings with global broadcasting unions as major draws. She believes European broadcasters are leading in areas such as content authenticity, media innovation and audience engagement, making IBC an important source of ideas and best practices for North America. Read More
The official Pokémon YouTube channel has released Wartortle and the Continuation of Summer, a 13‑minute PokéToon short directed by Shingo Yamashita and produced by Studio Chromato and Studio Colorido. The story follows Rikuto, who meets an unusually colored, moss‑covered Wartortle that once befriended his father 30 years earlier, weaving a gentle tale of memory and time. The short features voice actors Ayaka Senbongi, Tasuku Hatanaka, Kana Hanazawa and more, with art direction by Kunihiko Inaba and music by Kyosuke Kagawa. Read More
Niu Lai, a low-budget Chinese animation about a cow in a dream sequence, has become a box office success after going viral for its baffling plot and shoddy graphics. Tracking site Mao Yan reports it took just 7,705 yuan ($1,140) in its first 10 days but has since passed 11.4 million yuan, holding its own against Hollywood titles like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Read More
Rajkumar Hirani’s streaming debut, Pritam and Pedro, is India’s most-watched web series of 2026, per Ormax OTT Content Insights, drawing 23 million unique viewers with a projected finish near 27 million. Its Ormax Power Rating of 76 makes it the most-liked non-franchise Hindi series since 2024. Starring Vir Hirani and Arshad Warsi, the cybercrime comedy-thriller became JioHotstar’s biggest show yet and trended across seven languages. Read More
Following its acquisition of Sky Deutschland, RTL Deutschland has begun integrating operations, management and content, but major questions remain about its long-term brand strategy. A key signal came with the effective phase-out of the Sky Q receiver in favour of the IPTV-based Sky Stream platform, positioning RTL as a full-service TV provider. The biggest challenge is managing the overlap between Sky and streaming brand Wow. Despite promoting Sky, RTL recently distributed Wow subscriptions at corporate events, highlighting growing confusion over the two brands’ roles. Analysts suggest RTL must either clearly differentiate Sky and Wow or streamline its offering, as the current setup risks undermining both brands while complicating relationships with partners such as Deutsche Telekom. Read More
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Opening September 11 in NYC and September 18 in LA, Álvaro Olmos Torrico’s The Condor Daughter follows Clara, a teenager in a Quechua community whose adoptive mother, a midwife, teaches her ancestral birthing songs even as Clara dreams of becoming a folkloric music star in the city. Filmed in the Bolivian Andes with non‑professional actors, the TIFF‑selected feature has already won major festival prizes and expands nationwide during National Hispanic Heritage Month. Read More
RTL is stripping “Die Verräter” across four consecutive evenings for two weeks at 20:15, its most ambitious push yet after ratings slid in previous seasons. Season four expands to 18 celebrities, adds a mysterious phone call naming an extra traitor and a crystal ball twist, and opens with a buzzer dilemma. Episodes have streamed on RTL+ for two weeks, raising the risk of spoilers. Marijke Amado is an early standout. Read More
MagentaTV launches thriller series “Droneland” on October 8, starring Oliver Masucci, Sophie Mousel and Sibel Kekilli. Based on Tom Hillenbrand’s 2014 novel, the near-future story of drone-surveilled Europe required constant rewrites, 39 script versions for episode one alone, as reality overtook the fiction, producers said. Masucci’s ex-soldier and Mousel’s Europol agent investigate a politician’s murder. The European co-production reaches ZDF in 2027. Read More
One year into her role as Paramount+ Head of Originals, Jane Wiseman says the streamer is focusing on female-led dramas, genre series, YA content, kids programming and unscripted shows, while continuing to rely on major franchises from Taylor Sheridan, Star Trek and Tyler Perry. Wiseman highlighted upcoming projects such as Discretion starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, confirmed that more Star Trek development is underway, and said Paramount+ remains committed to expanding its slate despite merger uncertainty. Comedy remains a lower priority for now, with one-hour dramas driving the platform’s growth strategy. Read More
Paramount has escalated its legal battle over its proposed $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, asking a federal court to require the California and New York attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America to post a $1.88 billion bond. The company argues that delays caused by the antitrust lawsuit could cost it billions, including $7 million per day in “ticking fees” owed to WBD shareholders if the deal remains unclosed after September 30. Read More
Desi Lydic’s Foxsplains, a short-form satire series spun off from The Daily Show, has evolved from a simple digital experiment into an Emmy-nominated YouTube success. Created during the pandemic, the series features Lydic adopting a Fox News-inspired persona to parody conservative media narratives by enthusiastically amplifying them to absurd extremes. Filmed in a deliberately lo-fi style, the bite-sized episodes tackle current events and media culture, often written, shot and edited within a single day. Lydic credits the format’s success to its speed, flexibility and sharp commentary on how modern audiences consume and spread information. Read More
Legendary producer John Edwards traces how his work has guided Australian audiences through every decade of adulthood, from The Secret Life of Us’ twenty‑somethings to Love My Way, Tangle and now Dalliance, a Paramount+ drama about sixtysomethings. Edwards’ hallmarks, messy relationships, fallibility, and redemption, continue in The F Ward, showing a prolific creator still shaping the industry with compassion, energy and generational insight. Read More
A lost bag at Tullamarine led producer Jude Troy to Melbourne Airport chaplain Martyn Scrimshaw, whose extraordinary real‑life stories inspired SBS’s The Airport Chaplain. As Troy recalls, Scrimshaw guided her through “a two‑hour, 25,000‑step adventure” and shared tales ranging from “people dying on aeroplanes” to vulnerable travellers seeking help. Writer Elise McCredie built a fast‑paced half‑hour drama around chaplain Tobias (Hugo Weaving) and new terminal manager Mira (Shabana Azeez), exploring workplace tension, compassion and power in a re‑created Melbourne Airport. Read More
Barcelona‑based distributor GoldBee has picked up worldwide rights (excluding Canada) to Sphere Media’s live‑action kids series Project Rube, an inventive STEM format for tweens aged 9–12. The unscripted show follows teams of kids as they design and build elaborate Rube Goldberg machines, guided by DIY creator Morley Kert. Originally commissioned by TVOKids as 11×26 minutes, the series now spans 26 episodes, positioning GoldBee to drive global rollout across kids and family buyers.
Rachel Maxine Anderson and Rae Choi explain how they made Ina, a six‑part online series, by green‑lighting themselves instead of waiting for industry approval. They discuss writing from personal truth, embracing specificity, and why “there’s no such thing as a spoiler online,” using plot‑revealing social clips and TikTok fan edits to drive engagement. They also break down how constraints sharpened production choices and how direct audience feedback on social platforms proved connection rather than rejection.
Patrice Courtaban, EVP Global Growth & Business Development at TV5MONDE and CEO of TV5MONDE USA, outlined how the French-language broadcaster is accelerating its international reach by expanding FAST channels and emerging AI-powered discovery tools. Courtaban highlighted rising CTV consumption, the importance of curated global French‑language offerings, and how smarter recommendation systems will help TV5MONDE deepen engagement across diverse markets.
Producer Roger Cheng breaks down the making of Black Tide Island, a premium drama about five jailed doctors and intellectuals held at Green Island Prison during Taiwan’s White Terror era. He details the five‑year development process, the full‑scale prison set rebuilt in Tainan, extensive medical and multilingual training, and musical elements drawn from real prisoner accounts. Cheng also discusses descendants visiting the set, an interactive 360° online experience, and rising co‑production models across Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.
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How Netflix’s latest communications hire signals a broader shift in its film strategy
What insiders are saying about the next phase of consolidation across localisation and content services
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The strategic significance behind the MPA-ByteDance AI agreement and what it could mean for rights holders
Which executive move has industry observers talking about a larger company restructuring
The overlooked market where broadcasters are making aggressive investments ahead of 2027
And the dealmakers, producers, and distributors quietly positioning themselves for the next wave of industry change
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