New deal for Neighbours
Fremantle Media has struck a new deal with British broadcaster Channel 5 for its long-running drama Neighbours. The new deal expands the annual episode order of the show from 240 to 258, which essentially makes Neighbours a "year round" proposition. The deal also includes a number of standalone "primetime" episodes of the series. Fremantle's CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz said aside from Kylie Minogue, who sprang from its early life, Neighbours was Australia's "No. 1" export. "We value our global audiences and are delighted to stay on this journey together," the show's executive producer Jason Herbison said. The series airs daily on Channel 5 to about 1 million British viewers.
ABC boss among most powerful
The ABC's managing director Michelle Guthrie is the only Australian to make The Hollywood Reporter's 25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television list. The list reveals a stong Euro-British bias for senior women in broadcasting; only three American executives made the cut. Guthrie joins an impressive lineup including Gaumont France's head of production Carol Trussell, Sky UK's head of drama Anne Mensah, Bad Wolf producers (and former BBC executives) Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner and Fremantle's global CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz. The report notes Guthrie is the first female managing director of the ABC and the first in its history from a non-English-speaking background.
True Story's global reach
Hamish Blake and Andy Lee's Nine Network series True Story is heading to the international television market Mipcom in Cannes. Warner Bros has confirmed the series is one of four formats the studio will launch at the market; the others are Germany's Cash or Trash, the Dutch series The Big Escape and the US series Love Connection. "We are stoked to be teaming up with Warner Bros on this project," Blake and Lee said. "We are currently learning Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Danish and Greek so we can enjoy the [series] in those countries if it ends up getting made there." Mipcom, which is held annually in Cannes, is the world's biggest television program sales market.
Griffin dropped for NYE gig
American talk show host and television executive Andy Cohen will replace ousted comedian Kathy Griffin as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve Live broadcast. Griffin and Cooper have co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve Live since 2007, however she lost the gig earlier this year in the wake of a photo scandal in which she was pictured holding a replica of the bloodied head of US president Donald Trump. Cohen and Cooper are friends; they perform a series of speaking gigs together and Cooper is a regular guest on Cohen's US talk show. CNN has aired its New Year's Eve Live program since 2001; Cooper took over as host in 2002. In the US it is watched by around three million viewers; its global audience is not measured but would be significantly larger.
