Deadline: Channel 4 Makes History By Taking First Ever Majority Stake In A Production Company

Story from Deadline:

Channel 4 has taken one of the biggest steps in its 40-year history by acquiring a majority stake in a production company for the first time.

Deadline: Streamer Spend On British TV Topped £850M For First Time Last Year, Pact Research Finds, As John McVay Accuses Channel 4 Of “Snarkiness” Over ‘Adolescence’ Row

Story from Deadline:

Streamer spend on British TV shows comfortably topped $1B last year, according to Pact’s latest census, with chief John McVay rowing in behind the American giants to accuse Channel 4 of “snarkiness” over the Adolescence row that rocked the Edinburgh TV Festival.

Broadband TV News: ITV implements Unified Streaming’s virtual channel solution for FAST channels

Story from Broadband TV News:

ITV has announced its adoption of Unified Streaming’s Unified Virtual Channel to manage nearly a dozen FAST (free ad-supported television) channels.

Advanced Television; Forecast: UK SVoD revenues to overtake pay-TV by 2029

Story from Advanced Television:

The UK video entertainment market is holding its course, with total consumer spend expected to rise 2% in 2025 to £11.4 billion according to Futuresource Consulting’s latest Video Insights UK report, which highlights SVoD as the powerhouse of growth, alongside a stronger year for box office and signs of stabilisation in transactional video.

Virgin Media axe CSI New York

FAST Channel update on Virgin Media's TV360 and Stream boxes:

Advanced Television: Roku launching FAST channel offering in UK

Story from Advanced Television:

Roku is launching its first FAST channels on the Roku platform in the UK. Rolling out in October.

Narrative Entertainment UK Limited to update their 'GREAT!' channels logos next week

TV Choice is reporting that 'GREAT!' Linear TV branded channels will also be getting new logos from September 4th.

Broadband TV News: Sky’s factual chief Poppy Dixon steps down

Story from Broadband TV News:

Poppy Dixon, Sky’s head of factual programming since 2020, has stepped down from her role, according to Broadcast.

Are Virgin Media set to launch a new FAST Channel?

New FAST channel CSI on PlutoTV has started to do broadcast tests inside Virgin Media O2 ahead of it plan launch.

If channel do launch it will be on channel number 247 but NOT on V6 Boxes.

New FAST channels added to Prime Video UK

The following FAST channels have been added to Prime Video UK:

Advanced Television: POP Channels on Pluto TV in UK

Story from Advanced Television:

Narrative Entertainment is expanding the reach of its children’s channels with the launch of POP, Tiny Pop and POP Up on FAST platform Pluto TV.

Advanced Television: Watsham to exit UKTV

Story from Advanced Television:

UKTV has announced that Richard Watsham, Chief Creative Officer at UKTV and Global Director of Acquisitions for BBC Studios/UKTV, will step down from his roles in September following a 14-year tenure in the business.

Variety: U.K. Government Formally Rejects Streaming Levy, Doubles Down on Mixed Production Ecology

Story from Variety:

The U.K. government has firmly rejected calls for a 5% levy on streaming platforms and mandatory IP retention rules, instead emphasizing the benefits of a “mixed ecology” that welcomes both international investment and local production in its formal response to parliamentary recommendations on British film and high-end television.

Advanced Television: RugbyPass TV FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus

Story from Advanced Television:

World Rugby and Samsung have partnered to launch the RugbyPass TV FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus.

Advanced Television: Virgin TV adds British Screen Classics, wedoTV movies channels

An story on Media Boy UK early post (See Post after this one)

Story from Advanced Television:

Virgin Media O2 has launched two new FAST channels, providing customers the opportunity to watch an array of new content at no extra cost.

Two new Movies FAST Channels appeared on Virgin Media UK

 Virgin Media UK has today launch two new FAST Movies Channels.

• 450. British Screen Classics
• 451. We do Movies

All channels listing on this post are NOT on TiVo boxes.

Broadband TV News: Ofcom revises procedures for investigating broadcast and on demand licence breaches

Story from Broadband TV News:

Ofcom has unveiled a revision of its General Procedures for investigating breaches of broadcast licences.

Daily Mail: Misery at CNN HQ as debt-plagued network prepares for sale

Story from Daily Mail:

A dark cloud hangs over CNN headquarters as staffers brace for layoffs and a likely sale of the network amid another reshuffling by its parents company.

Advanced Television; Research: FAST awareness remains low in UK

Story from Advanced Television:

ScreenThink, MTM’s market intelligence tool for the TV and video industry, has released the findings of its research report including an exploration of the current impact of FAST on the UK’s television landscape.

Advanced Television; Report: UK advertising records £42.6bn spend in 2024

Story from Advanced Television:

The latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report shows that the UK’s ad market recorded a 10.4% increase in investment to a total of £42.6 billion in 2024.