LONDON: TV presenter and radio DJ Chris Evans has signed a three-year contract with BBC to front its global hit Top Gear, taking over for ousted host Jeremy Clarkson. Production on the long-running BBC Two show’s latest season is set to begin in the next few weeks. A statement by the ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.: National Geographic Channel has picked up the global rights to the two-part doc Hitler’s Death Army: Das Reich, which recently aired on France 3 and ARTE. With re-colorized HD footage, the two-parter looks at the final year of World War II, focusing on Das Reich, the elite Panzer ...

Major international factual channel brands continue to find expansion opportunities across Central and Eastern Europe. Last week, Scripps Networks Interactive announced it is planning to take 100-percent ownership of one of Poland’s leading broadcast groups, TVN. The move follows the lifestyle-channel operator shelling out $615 million to secure a controlling ...

LONDON: Jetpack Distribution has licensed 187 hours of programming to iflix, a new internet TV platform that currently airs across Malaysia and the Philippines. The agreement includes a dozen series. Among the titles are The Moe Show, a preschool puppet live-action program; Heart & Soul, an Emmy-nominated docudrama; and Jamie's ...

TOKYO: Fuji Television Network has announced plans to produce original content for Netflix, which is kicking off its Asian expansion in Japan this fall. Fuji TV and Netflix unveiled two productions at a press conference in Tokyo: a new season of Terrace House and the drama serial Atelier. Both shows ...

LONDON: BBC Two has commissioned the tentatively titled factual series An RAF Summer, from Archie Productions. The 4×1-hour series is set to showcase the work of the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows and their fellow RAF Display Teams, which fly over British skies during the summer months. Archie previously touched ...

HALIFAX/LOS ANGELES/LONDON: DHX Media has entered an agreement with Gulli that sees the kids' broadcaster acquire the exclusive free-TV rights for the reimagined Teletubbies series, as well as the non-exclusive VOD rights for its online platform GulliMax. Teletubbies is due to debut on Gulli in France early next year. The ...

PARIS: ZED has added the documentary Frank Sinatra or America’s Golden Age to its arts and culture lineup. Made by French producer Marie Drogue for France 5, the film is due out in December, coinciding with the titular American icon’s 100th birthday. The doc spans 50 years of the star’s ...

LONDON: Ten Alps has raised £4.5 million in a new funding round and has inked a deal to acquire Reef Television, a British production outfit specializing in factual programming. Ten Alps is buying Reef with an upfront cash payment as well as a cash earn-out over three years. Financial terms ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Veteran TV director Paul Edwards, who has helmed episodes of shows such as Gotham and Lost, has been hired to direct National Geographic Channel’s new scripted movie Saints & Strangers. Produced by Sony Pictures Television with Little Engine Productions, the four-hour scripted movie is scheduled to start shooting ...