SERVING FOR THE MATCH
Warner Bros. Discovery has extended its rights to show the U.S. Open in 45 markets across Europe, including exclusive access in 42 territories, after reaching a new five-year agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Territories excluded from the deal are Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Ireland.
The deal includes live and highlights rights with every match on every court available to stream on discovery+ and the Eurosport app in addition to live television coverage during the tournament on Eurosport 1 and 2.
Markets including the Nordics will also have the option to showcase the best matches on Warner Bros. Discovery’s free-to-air channels.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported record audience engagement in many major markets following the 2022 US Open. This includes the best ever streaming performance on its digital platforms, doubling its audience year-on-year on discovery+, and securing the highest ever viewership on Eurosport 2.
BBC DRAMA APPOINTMENTS
The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced three new appointees to its BBC Drama commissioning team. Danielle Scott-Haughton and Nick Lambon join as commissioning editors for BBC Drama. Sami El-Hadi will be BBC Drama’s new head of development.
Scott-Haughton joins the BBC from Balloon Entertainment where she has worked for the past seven years, most recently as development executive for scripted television and as executive producer on “Champion.”
Lambon has worked across a range of scripted titles, with previous credits including script editor on multiple series of “Doctor Who” and “DCI Banks,” assistant producer on series one of “Sanditon,” and as script producer and then producer on “Silent Witness.”
El-Hadi joins from production company The Forge, where he was development executive. Sami was previously at Working Title, where he worked as script executive on titles including Channel 4’s BAFTA winning “We Are Lady Parts” and the BBC’s “Everything I Know About Love.”
INDIA PROBES ADANI DEALINGS
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s markets regulator has begun investigating allegations made by Hindenburg Research, against companies owned by multi-billionaire Gautam Adani.
Hindenburg is a U.S. investment firm that specializes in short selling, i.e. profiting when share prices drop, which issued a research paper accusing the Adani cluster of market manipulation and fraud. While Adani Group has denied the claims, the suggestions of impropriety have caused the group’s stock values to fall by more than $100 billion. SEBI said it is examining market activity around the report. The Adani Group to date has relatively small media and entertainment activities, but has announced major ambitions in the sector.
PRODUCTION
Indian actor Chandan Roy Sanyal (Busan 2021 selection “Deep6”) who debuted as a director with psychological comic thriller “Suzie Q,” will direct and star in “The Playback Singer” alongside Anupriya Goenka (“Padmaavat”) and Nidhi Singh (“Permanent Roommates”).
Set in Patna, northern India, “The Playback Singer” is a musical period romance that follows a girl and her melodious world that drives her aspiration, the man she loves, the friends she makes for life, the songs that make her an icon and the twists of fate that eventually defines her life.
The film is being produced by U.S. entity Lonestar Films and Chandan Roy Sanyal Motion Picture Company. It is Lonestar’s second venture after “Cancer.” Lonestar is headed by U.S.-based Pankaj Mamtora and Devansh Patel leads the Indian arm as the chief creative officer.
Nidhi Singh, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Anupriya Goenka
SWISS CELEBRATION
As Netflix docu-series “The Romantics,” a celebration of the legacy of India’s Yash Chopra, Yash Raj Films and the cultural impact it has had over the past 50 years, streams from Feb. 14, Switzerland is paying tribute to Chopra, saluting his contribution of having showcased Switzerland’s beauty to Indians through his cinema.
The Swiss authorities will celebrate Chopra’s legacy across the country, especially in places where the filmmaker shot hits like “Darr” and “Chandni.” His son Aditya Chopra also shot the all-time blockbuster, “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” in Switzerland.
Remo Käser, director of sales, Jungfrau Railways, Switzerland, said: “The legend, Yash Chopra, has presented the beauty of Switzerland and especially the Jungfrau Region to Indians across the world for generations, through his beautiful, soulful cinema. Indians, who come to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe year on year, have always spoken to us about how the romantic films of Yash Chopra have pushed them to visit the Jungfrau Region and Interlaken and make memories for a lifetime.”
“Darr”