In a tweet, French President Emmanuel Macron has asserted his wish to see linear DTT channel France 4 continue broadcasting, mixing youth and cultural programming. France 4 was set to close on August 19th, after winning a one-year reprieve in 2020, and to be replaced by a fully-digital and on-demand offering. “A channel of animation […]
Groupe TF1, Groupe M6, Groupe Bouygues and RTL Group have signed agreements to enter into exclusive negotiations to merge the activities of Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 and create a major French media group. They say the new group would be well positioned to master the challenges arising from the accelerating competition with global platforms, […]
Sony Pictures Television’s portfolio of UK channels have been sold to Narrative Capital, a US financing and investment firm. The deal includes Sony Movies, Sony Movies Classic, Sony Movies Action, Sony Channel, POP, Tiny POP and POP Max, as well as various digital assets. The channels will be rebranded as GREAT! movies, GREAT! movies action, […]
The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and Major League Baseball have reached a long-term, wide-ranging rights extension for a fully-exclusive, marquee schedule. The seven-year agreement begins in 2022 and extends through the 2028 season. As a result of the agreement, ESPN will exclusively televise 30 regular-season games annually, including 25 editions of Sunday Night Baseball, the national […]
Dorna Sports has confirmed free-to-air coverage of the SHARK Grand Prix de France across the UK. The FIM MotoGP World Championship races of all three classes – MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 – will all be shown live on ITV4 on May 16th. ITV4 became the new home of free-to-air MotoGP highlights at the start of […]
Live coverage of The British & Irish Lions will return to terrestrial television for the first time in nearly 30 years with Channel 4’s broadcast of the Vodafone Lions 1888 Cup against Japan next month. In addition to live coverage of the pre-Tour Test match against Japan from BT Murrayfield on June 26th, Channel 4 […]
BBC Sport has announced a new rights deal which sees every IAAF Diamond League event live on the BBC until 2024. The new four-year deal kicks off with live coverage from Gateshead from May 23rd on BBC Two. The 2021 series will see 14 meetings in total, with a Doha meet following Gateshead on May […]
Six Nations Rugby has commenced joint long form contract discussions with Irish broadcasters Virgin Media Television and RTÉ having agreed a joint proposal in principle. It is planned that an agreement will ensure all three Six Nations Championships (Men’s Guinness Six Nations, Women’s Six Nations and Men’s Under 20’s tournaments) enjoy unprecedented coverage in the […]
A report from analyst firm Mediatique highlights the important role played by UK commercial PSB ITV in the nations and regions, but also the risk that globalising trends in TV production and distribution pose to the national TV ecology. Without decisive intervention the future of UK produced, original content made at scale outside of London […]
Switch Media has won the contract with Solomon Telekom Company Limited (STCL) to provide an online streaming service for its free-to-air television network, Telekom Television (TTV). Recently launched, the offering, which utilises Switch Media’s MediaHQ Lite online video platform, provides subscribers with a two-channel service that is available online across multiple devices including Chromecast streaming […]