All the latest news from the global content industry on Wednesday, 23 July

 

MGM+, HBO Max, Movistar take Outlander spin-off

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has sold Outlander: Blood of my Blood to major markets across EMEA, LATAM, and APAC ahead of its world premiere next month.  

The prequel to Outlander, which is set to launch 8 August on Starz in the US and Canada, has been acquired by MGM+ (UK), Deutsche Telekom (Germany), Sky Italia (Italy), Movistar Plus+ (Spain) and HBO Max (France, Central and Eastern Europe, Poland).

Deals have also been struck with Nova (Greece), Inspira+ (Estonia), Tet TV+, LMT (Latvia), Telia Play+ (Lithuania), Yes (Israel), beIN (across the Middle East and North Africa), Disney+ (Latin America), LG Uplus (South Korea), Stan (Australia), and Sky NZ (New Zealand). 

Matthew B. Roberts served as showrunner and executive producer, with Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis, and Jim Kohlberg serving as executive producers. 

The series will star Hermione Corfield, Jeremy Irvine, Harriet Slater, and Jamie Roy.

 

Great Pacific lands WBD’s Laura Crowson 

Thunderbird Entertainment Group’s unscripted outfit Great Pacific Media has hired Laura Crowson as senior vice president of global development.

Crowson will report to GPM chief David Way and will be based out of LA, with a remit to identify global market opportunities, drive co-productions and joint ventures.

She will also work closely with GPM development and business teams to create shows that are creatively ambitious and commercially viable.

Crowson joins from Warner Bros. Discovery, where she served as vice president of development, overseeing series and specials for Discovery Channel, Science Channel, Animal Planet, and Max.

 

Paramount Global eyes Africa cuts

Paramount Global has told employees in Africa that channels and jobs could be cut amid a review of its international operations.

The changes could particularly hit cable operations in the region, with a staff memo from Paramount Africa co-managers, Monde Twala and Craig Paterson, highlighting “immense industry disruption”.

The memo goes on to say that Paramount Africa, which employs around 100 staff, is “not immune to potential changes”, although specifics around the cuts were nit provided.

Paramount is in the midst of being acquired by Skydance Media, with approval being sought from US regulator the FCC.

 

LadBible expands female-skewing Betches unit to UK

LadBible Group is to expand its popular US-based social media brand Betches into the UK, to deliver daily entertainment content to millennial and Gen Z women.

Betches UK will have a dedicated editorial and social team based in the UK delivering daily content across TikTok and Instagram that reflects women’s interests and issue and entertainment and pop culture trends that appeal to British humour.

The female-led brand’s producer Betches Media was founded in 2011 and LadBible owner LBG Media acquired it in 2023 for $24m (£18m). Betches currently has a global audience of over 520m followers – including 1.5m on TikTok, 9m on Instagram and 200,000 YouTube subscribers, as well as a regular podcast, newsletter and live events. Read more

 

Wedotv expands in Italy

Streaming group Wedotv has linked with Italian digital TV platform Tivùsat to expand their FAST offering.

Wedotv BIG stories, which focuses on outdoor survival, reality, and cooking shows, joins Wedotv movies on Tivùsat.

The Italian expansion is the latest deal for Wedotv, which completed a licensing deal with New Regency for a package of more than 80 films earlier this month.