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Warner Bros Discovery and the European Broadcasting Union have won the auction for Olympic Games broadcasting rights between 2026 and 2032. Following a competitive tender put out by the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ), the pair’s joint bid was successful and will take the rights in 49 territories. This covers the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortino in 2026, the Olympic Games in L.A. in 2028, the Winter Olympics of 2030 and the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, along with the Youth Olympic Games during the six-year period. WBD, in its previous guise as Discovery, first won the rights to the rights to the Games in 2015 in a €1.3BN ($1.4BN) deal struck through subsidiary Eurosports for the 2018-2024 period. It then broadcasted or sub-licensed those rights across the continent. The deal guarantees the Games will remain free-to-air across Europe, ensuring every EBU member gets more than 200 hours of coverage of the Olympics and 100 hours of the Winter Olympics … [Read more...] about Warner Bros Discovery And EBU Land Olympic Games Broadcasting Rights In Europe

Warner Bros. International Television Production Spain has hired former Mediaset España director Alberto Carullo as Head of Drama. Reporting to Sebastián Moguilevsky, Managing Director, Warner Bros. ITVP in Spain and Portugal, Carullo will lead the scripted department, as well as content development and production for networks and platforms in Spain and Latin America Warner has said Carullo’s new role will include the development and production of new projects, the adaptation of original content from the Warner Bros. factory, and the leadership of the series teams. Carullo will also be tasked with directing the business model of the production company’s scripted area, where he will focus on the relationship with screens and platforms, the creation of opportunities, co-productions, and the establishment of partnerships and synergies with other production companies. Carullo joins Warner with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He was previously channel … [Read more...] about Warner Bros. ITVP Spain Hires Former Mediaset España Exec As Head Of Drama

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is handing many of its UK and Ireland staff a one-off payment of £1,000 ($1,200) to help combat the cost of living crisis . All central WBD staff who earn under £60,000 ($73,000) have received the one-off lump payment and will get a free lunch once a week until April and other benefits, we’ve learned. The move doesn’t cover those hired for production therefore staff at WBD Television’s UK subsidiaries such as Wall to Wall and Twenty Twenty won’t benefit. WBD declined to state how many would benefit from the measures but said it would be a “considerable number of employees.” The UK’s cost of living crisis has been biting hard, and media companies have been wrestling with how to help their lower-earning workers as inflation rockets. Sky gave 70% of its staff a £1,000 bonus over two instalments, with the second of those landing in bank accounts this month. WBD’s payment will be in a single tranche. “We want to help those most … [Read more...] about Warners Bros Discovery Gives “Considerable” Number Of UK And Ireland Staff $1,200 Payment To Help With Cost Of Living Crisis

Antony Root , the long-serving HBO Max EMEA original programming chief, is to exit his role at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and retire from the industry. Root will leave his post at the end of March ahead of the launch of the merged HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service. Root has spent 11 years as Executive Vice President of HBO Europe and later HBO Max EMEA after joining from Sony Pictures Television. Last year, his originals team were halted in their tracks when WBD decided HBO Max would stop ordering shows in most of Europe – a decision one source described as “the end of an era.” Most of Root’s European commissioning and production team were later let go, as Deadline revealed in August, but he stayed on. Deadline hears he has been travelling extensively in recent months to visit the remaining local staff. WBD did not discuss succession plans. Long Career At HBO Root commissioned more than 1,000 episodes of scripted, documentaries and unscripted … [Read more...] about HBO Max EMEA Original Programs Chief Antony Root Retiring From Warner Bros. Discovery

More than 200 BT Sport staff who transferred to the company’s joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery in the UK and Ireland are at risk of redundancy. Their current roles have been dissolved and they can now apply for new positions or leave the business. The staff were informed through a Zoom call and consultations with representatives of BT Sport have begun, as first reported by SVG Europe. An unspecified number are expected to take new roles at the JV, as will be given priority for the positions, according to a JV spokesperson. This comes after Warner Bros Discovery and BT Sport formally launched their JV in September. This brought Eurosport and BT Sport together, with Warner Bros Discovery leading the day-to-day management of the operation. The redundancies and planned staff changes are the result off BT Sport’s lease at offices in Stratford, East London expiring. Staff are now moving to Warner Bros Discovery’s bases in other parts of London. “A consultation … [Read more...] about BT Sport Staff Who Joined Warner Bros Discovery JV Put At Risk Of Redundancy

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline hears that Warner Bros. Television is developing a limited series about Buster Keaton that has Oscar and Emmy winner Rami Malek playing the vaudeville-turned-silent comedy movie star. Matt Reeves ’ 6th & Idaho Productions, Malek and David Weddle are producing, and we understand that The Batman director is set to helm. Three-time Emmy winner Ted Cohen ( Friends, Succession, Veep ) is in negotiations to write and serve as an executive producer on the project. James Curtis’ Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life is being eyed as the source material for the series, with negotiations underway by the studio to secure the book. Daniel Pipski and Rafi Crohn from 6th & Idaho are also EPs. The project is being primed to be shopped to streamers and networks; 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal at Warner Bros, as Deadline first told you . Reeves is also working on his Batman HBO Max spinoff series at Warners, The Penguin, with Colin … [Read more...] about Rami Malek-Starring Buster Keaton Limited Series From Matt Reeves In Works At Warner Bros TV

Ken Lowe , former CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, is joining the Warner Bros Discovery board of directors . The exec, who will replace departing board member Robert R. Bennett on April 2 pending a shareholder vote, is a familiar figure to the management team at WBD. Discovery, prior to its merger last year with WarnerMedia, acquired Scripps and its portfolio of lifestyle networks including HGTV and Food Network. Lowe served on Discovery’s board from 2018 until the close of the WBD deal last April. Lowe was chairman and CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive from its split with The E.W. Scripps Company in 2008 until its sale to Discovery in 2018. He was president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company from 2000 until 2008. Prior to 2000, Lowe was chairman and CEO of Scripps Networks. In an SEC filing, WBD said Lowe’s “expertise in the media industry and experience as a public company executive, as well as his experience in the areas of integration and transformation … [Read more...] about Warner Bros Discovery Names Ken Lowe, Former Scripps Networks Interactive CEO, To Board Of Directors

EXCLUSIVE: Mattel is putting gas in the tank of its Warner Bros - Bad Robot movie Hot Wheels with writers Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson boarding to pen the live-action adaptation of the 54-year old racecar toys. Robbie Brenner, EP for Mattel Films, will lead the project alongside VP Kevin McKeon, VP and creative executive Andrew Scannell. Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen are overseeing for Bad Robot. Nick and Dalton sold their original sci-fi spec, Endurance, to Netflix with Simon Kinberg producing in a multi-studio bidding war. The script follows a group of AI robots that have been marooned on Mars and begin to turn on one another while setting up a colony for humans. Additionally, they’re writing The Fall for Amblin and Blackmaled Productions. The duo also wrote Strongman , a darkly comedic reimagining of the making of the original Star Wars trilogy through the eyes of David Prowse, the English bodybuilder behind Darth Vader’s mask. Strongman’s … [Read more...] about ‘Hot Wheels’: Mattel-Warner Bros-Bad Robot Pic Revving Up With Scribes Dalton Leeb & Nicholas Jacobson-Larson

Kevin Fortson, the Executive Vice President of Production & Administration for Warner Bros . Unscripted Television, will retire this summer after three decades with the studio. “For the past 30 years, Kevin has been an indelible part of Warner Bros,” said Mike Darnell , President, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television. “His name has literally become synonymous with the company and the lot itself. Personally, I will miss him for his counsel, his friendship and his endless string of dad jokes. He truly is one in a million … although he would probably try to cut that budget down! He is as important to the studio as any movie or television show ever produced here, and if I had the power to do it, there would be a stage with his name on it, right next to Friends and The Big Bang Theory. He is known as the unofficial Mayor of the lot, and his constituents will miss him dearly… and no one will ever be re-elected to that position.” Fortson has been leading all aspects of … [Read more...] about Unscripted TV Exec Kevin Fortson To Retire After 30 Years With Warner Bros.

As it prepares for negotiations for a new film and TV contract – and a possible writers strike in May – the WGA West is once again blasting Warner Bros. Discovery for going back on its promise that the merger that created the giant media conglomerate last year would create more opportunities for content creators. “WarnerMedia and Discovery promised that their merger would allow the new company to invest in more original content and create more opportunity for underrepresented storytellers,” the guild said in a statement today. “Less than one year after the merger’s close, Warner Bros. Discovery has laid off hundreds of workers and canceled, pulled, or written off $2 billion in content, spotlighting the predictable harms of consolidation.” “Warner-Discovery is the latest disastrous merger to demonstrate the harms of consolidation, and particularly the threat to diversity when gatekeepers combine to increase their power,” Laura Blum-Smith, the guild’s director of … [Read more...] about WGA West Blasts Warner Bros. Discovery Ahead Of Possible Industry-Wide Writers Strike In May