News

New streaming service Freely, backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, will launch in the second quarter of 2024.

Sky is to cut around 1,000 jobs, about 4% of its workforce in the UK and Ireland, this year. The bulk of the job losses will reportedly come from its engineer teams and consultations have begun.

STV Studios has increased its 25% equity stake in the high-end drama production company Two Cities Television to a majority holding of 51%.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish has outlined plans to cut the entertainment company’s workforce and to reduce the amount of international original programming it produces.

ScreenSkills has unveiled a new cohort of 25 future senior leaders selected for its High-end TV Skills Fund’s Leaders of Tomorrow inclusion-focused programme.

Figures released by the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), Omdia, Kantar, Futuresource Consulting, and Official Charts Company have valued the UK screen industry at £12.5bn for 2023, a 5.6% YoY growth in a year when the UK Box Office topped £1bn for the first time since the pandemic. This was inclusive of SVoD, Premium AVoD, TVoD, Physical, Cinema and Pay TV.

ITV Studios and mobile game developer Fusebox Games have announced a renewed deal to expand the mobile game Love Island: The Game for another three years.

More than 40% of behind the scenes workers for the UK’s film and TV industry have less than £1,000 in savings, with 29% reporting low cash savings and high levels of debt, according to the latest report from the Film and TV Charity.

Channel 4 has unveiled a five-year strategy to reshape the organisation which will involve reducing its headcount by 18% and moving out of its Horseferry Road HQ.

The BBC is to put key brands Blue Peter, Cardiff Singer of the World, Eurovision Song Contest and Sports Personality of the Year out to a competitive tender.