10 Global TV Stories You Should Know: 05/02/2024

Here are the stories that should be on your radar

Here are the global TV and streaming stories that should be on your radar for Thursday, May 2nd, 2024:

How British True Crime Producers Are Quietly Revolutionizing Duty Of Care Amid Explosion In Genre’s Popularity (Deadline)
It was more than a year ago that a 45-year-old British woman, Nicola Bulley, went missing walking her dog in the sleepy northern English town of St Michael’s on Wyre. What followed was three weeks of frenzy, one of the country’s most publicized, televised searches for a missing person in recent years that ended in tragedy when Bulley’s body was discovered on February 19.

Canal+ Ups Multichoice Stake (Advanced-Television)
Canal+, the French media group, has increased its holding in MultiChoice to 42.47 per cent as it moves take full control of the African pay-TV company. Canal+ announced in a press statement that it had acquired in on- and off-market transactions, a further 3.87-million MultiChoice shares, and the transactions had been disclosed to South Africa’s takeover regulation panel.

Forecast: APAC Video Industry Set For Significant Growth (Advanced-Television)
Over the forthcoming half-decade, the Asia Pacific video industry is set to witness significant growth in online spending and advertising, driving new growth worth a total of $21 billion (€19.6bn), according to MPA’s Asia Pacific Video & Broadband Industry 2024.

Giro d’Italia To Show On WBD’s Eurosport, Max, Discovery+ (Digital TV Europe)
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will broadcast Italian cycling championship Giro d’Italia on linear channel Eurosport, as well as streaming services Max and discovery+. The Eurosport 1 will provide 123 hours of live race coverage in Europe and Asia. The competition will also be available to cycling fans on WBD channels and platforms, including free-to-air to channels across Germany’s Eurosport 1 and Norway’s Kanal 5. Whilst daily highlights will be shown in the UK on the DMAX channel and Poland on the Metro channel.

‘Fawlty Towers’ Stage Play Won’t Have Racial Slurs, John Cleese Says: ‘The Literal-Minded Don’t Understand Irony’ (Variety)
“There’s always a problem with comedy that you deal with the literal-minded,” Cleese added. “Whenever you’re doing comedy you’re up against the literal-minded and the literal-minded don’t understand irony. And that means if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy. Because literal-minded people don’t understand metaphor, irony or comic exaggeration. People who are not literal-minded can see there’s various different interpretations, depending on different contexts.”

S4C In Wales Orders Local-Language Version Of ‘The Voice’ (TBI Vision)
Welsh-language broadcaster S4C has struck a deal for a local version of ITV Studios format, The Voice. The show will be produced by ITVS-owned Boom Cymru and be known as Y Llais, with a 8 x 90-minute version slated to debut in 2025.

Apple TV+ Attracts New Subscribers As Prime Video Faces Ad Uncertainty (Broadband TV News)
AppleTV+ was the fastest growing major SVOD service in the first quarter, according to Kantar’s latest Entertainment on Demand (EoD) data. In terms of percentage subscriber growth, Netflix had a strong Q1 in Europe and Australia, along with local services such as Movistar+ in Spain, Joyn Plus+ in Germany, and Kayo in Australia all seeing elevated levels of new paid subscriber share. However, Prime Video’s introduction of an ad-supported tier was met with resistance from their existing user base, dropping subscribers after a strong Q4.

Research: Major SVoDs Use Diverse Bundling Strategies (Advanced-Television)
Findings from analyst firm Omdia’s Bundling’s Impact on the Global Streaming Market report reveal that Netflix maintains significant advantages as  result of its ‘first-among-equals’ status within the streaming sector. This valuable position allows Netflix access to direct subscription from customers and avoid revenue sharing with platforms such as iOS or Google.

DAZN Scores Rights To Northern Ireland Women’s Premiership (Digital TV Europe)
DAZN has further bolstered its Women Football offering, securing the free-to-air rights to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL). The acquisition marks the first commercial broadcast rights agreement for football in Northern Ireland.

British Comedian Behind BBC Shows Criticized Over Alleged “Antisemitic” Death Threat To Female Comic (Deadline)
British comedian Dane Baptiste, a regular on TV and creator of two BBC shows, has been criticized for allegedly posting an “antisemitic” death threat about a female comic. Prominent members of the British comedy community rounded on Baptiste after he was accused of publishing a now-deleted Instagram post in which he told an unidentified female comedian he would “sit in prison while your family sit at the cemetery.”