10 Global TV Stories You Should Know: 01/17/2024

Here are the global TV and streaming video stories that should be on your radar for Wednesday, January 17th, 2024:

TNT Sports Snaps Up India v England Cricket Rights In UK (Sportcal)
Various English newspapers have reported a five-year deal for TNT to exclusively cover international cricket taking place in India, with the tie-up set to begin with the five tests against England. That series starts on January 25 in Hyderabad, before fixtures in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala running through early March.

Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Action-Comedy ‘Le Jardinier’ Boarded by Prime Video in France (Variety)
Jean-Claude Van Damme, the global martial artist turned action hero whose 2021 movie “The Last Mercenary” was a hit on Netflix, has another film on the horizon. He will star opposite Michaël Youn (“BDE”) in “Le jardinier,” another high-voltage action-comedy reuniting him with “The Last Mercenary” director David Charhon.

Mohit Raina, Roshan Mathew & Sarah Jane Dias Lead Cast In ‘Kan Khajura’, SonyLIV’s Indian Remake Of Israeli Drama ‘Magpie’ (Deadline)
Mohit Raina, Roshan Mathew and Sarah Jane Dias among the cast of Indian streamer SonyLIV’s remake of Israeli drama Magpie. Kan Khajura, which means ‘centipede’ in Hindi, will also star Mahesh Shetty, Ninad Kamat, Trinetra Haldar, Heeba Shah, and Usha Nadkarni.

Netflix Tests Marketing Tie-Up With French Supermarket (Broadband TV News)
Netflix is testing a joint plan with the French supermarket Carrefour in a bid to win more subscribers for its entry level tier. Customers in Bordeaux and Rouen are being offered Netflix Basic with Ads for a monthly €5.99 as part of a package that also includes discounts of Carrefour-branded products and free delivery on orders over €60.

Kamal Haasan, Ajith Kumar, Vikram, Vijay Sethupathi, Keerthy Suresh Films Lead Netflix’s 2024 Tamil Slate (Variety)
Netflix has revealed a lineup of nine titles as part of its licensed Tamil-language film slate for 2024. The unreleased films will bow on Netflix after their theatrical releases. All the films will also be available in versions dubbed in the other three southern Indian languages — Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada — and in most cases in northern Indian language Hindi as well.

All3Media FAST Channels On Netgem TV (Advanced-Television)
Netgem has announced a partnership with All3Media International, bringing new FAST channels to consumers in the UK and Ireland. Scheduled for launch this January, Netgem will initially introduce three new FAST channels to its growing platform.

Viaplay Considers New Nordic Advertising Tier (C21 Media)
Nordic streamer Viaplay could follow in the path of several other streaming giants reviewing the possibilities of an ad-based version. Viaplay Group is not new to advertising since the company is based on commercial linear channels across Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Showmax Unveils New Packages, Including Kshs 500 Premier League Service (Kenyan Wall Street)
In October last year, Multichoice revealed plans to do away with ‘Showmax Pro’ after partnering with ComCast’s Universal and Sky. The company promised to provide quality and original content suited for local audiences at affordable rates. Showmax has also introduced a new technical streaming platform called Peacock which will be active in more than 70 countries.

Baltic Streamer Go3 Pass Half-Million Subs Milestone (Digital TV Europe)
Baltic region OTT streamer Go3 has passed the milestone of 500,000 paying subscribers, representing 20% household penetration in the region. This streamer’s owner TV3 Group said that the half million subs milestone was achieved less than four years since launch in December 2019.

Tivùsat Adds 334,000 Connections In 2023 (Advanced-Television)
Italy’s free satellite platform Tivùsat enjoyed a stellar year in 2023, exceeding forecasts by 10 per cent with 334,000 new activations. The managing director of Italian state broadcaster RAI, Stefano Luppi, highlighted the strong three-year run, with a total of 1.3 million new activations since 2021.