Advanced Television: Pluto TV expands NBCU content in UK

Story from Advanced Television:

Pluto TV has announced a partnership with NBCUniversal (NBCU) Global TV Distribution to bring an array of comedy, dramedy, action, and fan favourites content to viewers in the UK starting November 1st.

BBC News: Sturgeon paid £25k for ITV general election appearance

Story from BBC News:

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was paid £25,000 to appear on ITV’s general election results programme, it has been revealed.

Deadline: Ofcom Fines GB News £100,000 Over Rishi Sunak Live Show; GB News Boss Decries “Direct Attack On Free Speech & Journalism”

Story from Deadline:

Ofcom has fined GB News £100,000 over its People’s Forum: The Prime Minister live show with Rishi Sunak just prior to the UK general election, with the head of GB News calling the move a “direct attack on free speech and journalism.”

Sky Sports; WSL new broadcast deal: Sky Sports and The BBC to remain home of women's football in historic five-year deal from 2025/26 season

Story from Sky Sports & The BBC:

Sky has announced a historic five-year partnership with the Women's Professional League, securing the rights to show nearly 90 per cent of all Women's Super League matches from the 2025/26 season.

Advanced Television: ITV scores Ligue 1 highlights

Story from Advanced Television:

LFP Media and ITV have announced a deal that will see ITV broadcast the weekly Ligue 1 McDonald’s highlights magazine show in the UK during the current 2024/25 season.

Advanced Television: ITV extends Lionesses deal

Story from Advanced Television:

ITV has agreed a new four-year record deal with The FA as they will continue to be the home of the Lionesses from 2025-2029.

Media Guardian: No more international cricket live on free-to-air TV as ECB fails to agree deal

Story from Media Guardian:

The England men’s and women’s cricket teams are set to return fully behind the Sky Sports paywall next season after an extension to the BBC rights deal in which the ­corporation opted out of showing live internationals.

Advanced Television; Channel 4’s Katz: ‘No AI-generated drama’

Story from Advanced Television:

Ian Katz, Chief Content Officer at UK PSB Channel 4, has said the channel is not planning to follow the lead of fellow PSB ITV in seeking to recruit a Head of Generative AI to help create ‘shows, films and digital-first content’.

Advanced Television; Survey: Film & TV industry has government budget concerns

Story from Advanced Television:

Specialist film and TV PR consultancy Percy & Warren has revealed the findings of its pre-budget survey of UK film and television producers.

Variety; BBC Reports 10,000 Shows Viewed Online a Day, Compared With Netflix’s 4,800, Prime Video’s 2,400: ‘Everyone’s a Streamer, Even the Broadcasters’

Story from Variety:

The streaming platforms of European broadcasters are outgunning the global streamers when it comes to depth of content, research agency Glance reported in Cannes during TV market Mipcom this week.

Broadband TV News: Create and Craft confirms closure

Story from Broadband TV News:

Shopping channel Create and Craft has confirmed its closure, days after Sky removed the channel from its programme guide.

Advanced Television: Top cycling races remain on Warner Bros Discovery services

Story from Advanced Television:

Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe is extending its rights to show a large number of the world’s greatest cycling races until at least 2030.

Advanced Television: Asian channel boost for Virgin TV subs for Diwali

Story from Advanced Television:

From October 25th until November 8th and in celebration of Diwali, Virgin Media TV customers can enjoy access to 14 premium South Asian TV channels at no extra cost, bringing a wealth of world-leading South Asian entertainment into homes across the UK.

Broadband TV News: Virgin Media rebrands Stream product as Flex

Story from Broadband TV News:

Virgin Media has rebranded its Steam product as well as bringing in a new £5 monthly free for new subscribers.

Virgin Media: Virgin Media O2 to make multi-million-pound investment in new central Manchester office

Story from Virgin Media O2:

Virgin Media O2 has signed a commitment to invest in a new state-of-the art office space in central Manchester, agreeing a contract with Island that will see the new and innovative net zero carbon workspace become the company’s central Manchester office location from late next year.

Variety: ScreenSkills Teams With BBC, Channel 4 on Five-Year Plan to Boost U.K. Screen Industry Workforce

Story from Variety:

ScreenSkills, the U.K.‘s screen industry skills body, has unveiled an ambitious five-year strategy aimed at developing a robust workforce to support the nation’s £13.48 billion screen sector.

Advanced Television: ITV, Mattel announce Pictionary game show

Story from Advanced Television:

Mattel, the toy and family entertainment company, and ITV have jointly announced new game show Pictionary (25 x 30”) based on the popular drawing game. The show will be produced by Whisper North and hosted by Mel Giedroyc.

BBC News: Government intervenes over film studio proposals

Story from BBC News:

The government has intervened over planning proposals to build one of the UK's biggest film and TV studio complexes.

Virgin Media rebrand NDTV News TWO weeks after it rebrand

Virgin Media UK has rebranded NDTV 24x7 as NDTV World on Virgin UK Channel 621.

Media Guardian: Sky’s full-year losses double to £224m as revenue flatlines

Story from Media Guardian:

Sky reported a doubling of its annual losses last year as the media and telecoms company spent more on programming and costs relating to its broadband services and hardware such as mobile devices and Sky Glass TVs increased.