Category Archives: Television industry

Netflix uses generative AI in one of its shows for first time

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Firm says technology used in El Eternauta is chance ‘to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper’

Netflix has used artificial intelligence in one of its TV shows for the first time, in a move the streaming company’s boss said will make films and programmes cheaper and of better quality.

Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive of Netflix, said the Argentinian science fiction series El Eternauta (The Eternaut) is the first it has made that involved using generative AI footage.

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Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN over reporting on Ice-tracking app

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Kristi Noem says ‘we’re working with [DoJ] to see if we can prosecute them’ while president fumes over Iran reporting

Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new Ice detention center in Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock.

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Bill Moyers, Lyndon Johnson press chief and celebrated broadcaster, dies at 91

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Moyers, who served as Johnson’s press secretary for two years, became one of television’s most revered journalists

Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died on Thursday at age 91.

Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former chief executive of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B Johnson’s administration.

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Adults in Great Britain now spending more time on mobiles than watching TV

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Daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours, annual survey for IPA finds

The amount of time adults in Great Britain spend using their mobile phones has finally overtaken that spent watching TV, according to a report that calculates the daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours.

For the first time a typical person aged 15 or over spends longer each day on their mobile (three hours and 21 minutes) than on watching a traditional set (three hours and 16 minutes), the annual TouchPoints survey found.

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Ex-Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan reveals stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis

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The 67-year-old, who also worked for ITV, BBC and Channel 4, says he is ‘responding positively to excellent treatment’

The former BBC and Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 67-year-old announced his diagnosis on social media, saying it was one of stage four advanced cancer.

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New Australian free-to-air TV rules could allow alcohol ads from 10am, even on weekends and school holidays

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Media authority mulls Free TV Australia’s proposed revised code of practice to expand daytime hours when M programming is permitted

Free-to-air broadcasters want classification rules changed to allow an additional 800 hours of alcohol ads every year despite one in three children already being exposed to liquor commercials on television.

Despite laws banning alcohol marketing during children’s viewing hours, broadcasters have a “sports loophole” in their code of practice, which permits the airing of alcohol ads during televised sporting events.

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Trump complains the US media aren’t bending to his will. Aren’t they?

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Despite owners and networks forsaking journalistic independence, Trump continues to threaten journalists

In the telling of Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues, the US media is fake news, stocked with “radical-left monsters” who are guilty of “illegal” reporting on the president.

The reality is different.

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Host of CBS’s 60 Minutes rebukes corporate owners Paramount on-air

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Scott Pelley castigated network over independence pending sale to Skydance Media requiring Trump’s approval

A host of CBS’s 60 Minutes flagship news show rebuked the show’s corporate owners on Sunday evening, part of a dispute over journalists’ independence amid a lawsuit from Donald Trump and attempted sale.

For decades, the broadcast news program has been a destination for investigative journalism and home to America’s most venerated broadcast journalists – including Sunday evening’s host Scott Pelley.

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‘We’re location scouting’: where next for White Lotus and who will star?

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HBO renewed Mike White’s hit drama before third season aired and rumours abound about luxury settings and return of stars

You’ve only just got home from a holiday when you start planning the next one. So it is with the super-rich spa satire The White Lotus. The gunsmoke is still clearing from the finale of the third season but speculation is rife about where the HBO hit will head next.

This week’s climax of Mike White’s drama might have divided critics, but it was still group chat-dominating, column inch-gobbling TV, notching its highest ratings yet. The show was renewed for a fourth trip before the third had even aired, with White reportedly pitching HBO execs his next idea while still filming in Koh Samui. Buzz is now building about the next chapter, expected on our screens in late 2026.

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Actor said to have been groped by Noel Clarke tells court it did not happen

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Louise Dylan speaks at Clarke’s libel case against Guardian about wrap party for 2012 film The Knot

An actor who was said to have been groped by Noel Clarke has told the high court that the incident never happened.

In a witness statement for Guardian News and Media (GNM), which is being sued for libel by Clarke, his former creative partner Davie Fairbanks said he saw the former Doctor Who star inappropriately touch Louise Dylan at the wrap party for the 2012 film, The Knot.

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Rachel Maddow says MSNBC laying off ‘non-white’ hosts and staff is ‘indefensible’

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Majority of producers on Maddow and Joy Reid’s shows let go with option to re-apply amid network shake-up

MSNBC has told the majority of the employees who produce Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid’s primetime evening news shows they are being let go as part of the network’s programming overhaul with the option to apply for new roles, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.

Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers, the people said.

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Lester Holt to exit NBC Nightly News as MSNBC cuts Ayman Mohyeldin’s show

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Holt to step down as anchor as Katie Phang and Jonathan Capehart, whose shows also canceled, to remain at MSNBC

NBC’s Lester Holt is stepping down as anchor of its Nightly News show, and MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin is stepping down from a similar role at his namesake weekend evening show as the networks’ owners continue a major programming shake-up on Monday.

Others at MSNBC affected by changes revealed on Monday include Katie Phang and Jonathan Capehart, the New York Post reported.

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MSNBC reportedly cancels Joy Reid show in reshuffle at liberal network

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ReidOut is being cancelled as part of a lineup shuffle being helmed by the network’s new president, Rebecca Kutler

MSNBC has reportedly canceled longtime anchor Joy Reid’s show in what is evidently a major programming restructure at the liberal network.

Speaking to the New York Times, two people familiar with the reshuffling told the outlet that Reid’s 7pm show, The ReidOut, is being cancelled as part of a lineup shuffle being helmed by the network’s new president, Rebecca Kutler.

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UK creative industries set behaviour standards after Strictly and MasterChef rows

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An independent standards authority says the industry must learn from recent scandals and create safer working environments

New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK’s creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d’Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The Creative Industries Indep­endent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address “power imbalances”.

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BBC and ITV slash big-budget TV spend as US streamers pour money into UK

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Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky also among UK broadcasters making cuts as Netflix, Disney and Amazon pile on pressure

UK broadcasters slashed their spending on big-budget TV shows to the lowest level in almost a decade last year, even as their US rivals Netflix, Disney and Amazon ploughed hundreds of millions more into British-made premium content.

In a sign of the increasing competitive pressures of the streaming era, the amount spent on high-end TV shows costing more than £1m an hour to make by domestic operators such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, plunged by a quarter last year to £598m.

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BBC apologises to staff who ‘felt unable to raise’ Russell Brand concerns

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A number of people believed comedian ‘would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent’, review finds

The BBC has apologised to staff after a review into the conduct of Russell Brand during his time with the broadcaster found a number of people “felt unable to raise” concerns about his behaviour .

Peter Johnston, the BBC director of editorial complaints and reviews, said on Thursday he had investigated eight complaints about Brand during his review, with only one of those formally made to the BBC.

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Lebedev’s London Live TV channel closes after decade of mounting losses

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Station was crown jewel of Jeremy Hunt’s strategy to populate the UK with dozens of local TV stations

At midnight on Sunday, London Live, the capital’s dedicated TV channel and crown jewel of Jeremy Hunt’s strategy to populate the UK with dozens of local TV stations, will cease broadcasting after a little over a decade.

Back in 2010, the then Conservative culture secretary’s local TV plan was criticised as financially unviable by much of the media industry, but London was the exception.

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UK’s TV workers exposed to ‘illegal or barely legal’ conditions and traumatic content

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Report cites low pay and overwork, and employees complain of receiving no warning before working on disturbing scenes

“Illegal or barely legal” working practices are rife in the UK’s TV industry, new research has revealed.

Workers in post-production roles, including editors, designers and special effects artists, are regularly being paid below the minimum wage and experiencing “unacceptable” conditions, such as hours spent in dark, unventilated rooms and exposure to traumatic content with no warning.

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Outgoing FCC chair rejects TV bias complaints that ‘curtail press freedom’

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Complaints accuse TV stations and networks of promotion of 2020 election falsehoods, bias and ‘news distortion’

The outgoing chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered it to reject four complaints and petitions against television stations, saying she believes the complaints “seek to curtail freedom of the press and undermine the First Amendment”.

In a statement on Thursday, just days before she is set to step down, Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said all four complaints were essentially political in nature. She described them as attempts to “weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC”.

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Lego links up with TV hit Bluey for toy sets to be launched this year

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Partnership ‘a long time coming’ and is latest expansion of Australian-made animated series

The global hit children’s TV show Bluey is to make its Lego debut with the first sets due to hit shelves later this year.

The world of Bluey, which has proved such a small-screen hit a film is to be made for global release in 2027, is to be brought to life in plastic brick form with six sets to be revealed this spring before going on sale later this year.

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