All the latest news from the global content industry on Monday, 20 April

 

History Hunters extends Danish run

DR1 in Denmark has ordered a second season of History Hunters, the gameshow format sold by Belgian firm Primitives.

The show is from Heartland TV and debuted on DR1 in November. DR has also greenlit a youth special currently in production, set for Halloween.

The original format turns a nation’s history into a competition, with two celebrity teams racing through real historic locations, solving puzzles and uncovering surprising stories in a bid to reach a final showdown.

The format was launched internationally by Primitives at Mipcom 2025 and has already been optioned in six territories, including Germany and Spain.

 

Seriencamp unveils line-up additions

Germany’s Seriencamp Conference has added a raft of speakers to its roster including Brian Elsley (Skins), Samuel Jefferson (Krank Berlin) and Luise Hardenberg (Push), who will offer insights into their work at the 12th edition of the annual event.

Analyst Johanna Koljonen will explore the immediate future of the media industry via the Nostradamus Report, while series incubator ZDF Quantum has confirmed it will be part of the Next From strand.

First-looks will also be available via the Work in Progress sessions, with Scottish legal drama Counsels (BBC/ZDFneo) joined by Die Falle (Netflix) and ZDF/MagentaTV co-production Droneland.

Seriencamp Festival will again take place concurrently with the conference, with almost 20 exclusive series screenings planned including the world premiere of All Heroes are Bastards (ARD). Seriencamp Conference and Festival take place 9-11 June in Cologne.

 

Discovery preps Naked and Afraid: Global Showdown

Discovery Channel is preparing to debut a global version of Naked And Afraid, which will feature 14 contestants from the various remakes of the show around the world.

Naked and Afraid: Global Showdown debuts 17 May and will see competitors from Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the US battling for a record-breaking $200,000 prize.

The group will be split into seven pairs representing their homelands, with their survivalist skills tested by three brutal and unpredictable ecosystems in South Africa’s Zululand. The show is produced for Discovery Channel by Lionsgate Alternative Television.

 

Canal+ drama heads to UK

The BBC has picked up exclusive UK rights to Canal+’s French-language superhero drama The Sentinels from Studiocanal.

The show, produced by Federation Studios France and Esprits Frappeurs, will premiere in the UK exclusively on iPlayer and BBC4 later this year, having already sold to more than 60 territories worldwide.

Created by Guillaume Lemans in collaboration with Xabi Molia, the eight-parter is based on the comic book series Les Sentinelles by Xavier Dorison and Enrique Breccia.

Set at the outbreak of WWI, it follows a severely wounded soldier who is given superhuman abilities to join an elite battalion of combatants known as the Sentinels. Read more

 

US broadcasters’ $6.2bn deal blocked

Nexstar, the US broadcast giant and owner of The CW, has been temporarily thwarted in its planned $6.2bn (£4.6bn) acquisition of rival US broadcaster Tegna.

A deal was agreed last year that would have seen the enlarged company reaching more than 80% of the country’s viewers but the proposed acquisition has been blocked by a federal judge.

The ruling in Sacramento came as part of rival DirecTV’s lawsuit, with the judge claiming the combination would cause “irreparable harm” to the rival operator, with local news coverage a particular focus of those against the deal.

Nexstar, which is appealing the ruling, said last month that its acquisition was complete but the company is facing legal action in numerous states despite regulator approval from the FCC and the support of president Donald Trump.

 

India’s Lionsgate Play takes Heated Rivalry

India-based streamer Lionsgate Play has picked up the second season of Heated Rivalry.

The show has been slated to debut in 2027 and has been acquired alongside a raft of US movies, including Billion Dollar Spy and By Any Means.

The features will start debuting in cinemas in India from September before moving onto Lionsgate Play, which was acquired by former Lionsgate Asia chief Rohit Jain.