The NCAA has extended its pact for the men’s basketball tournament with CBS and Turner for an another eight years, to run through 2032. Eight seasons remain on the original 14-year contract. The deal increases the average to $1.1 billion per season, up from more than $770 million in the current deal.
Producer Jason Henry and his Lobster Moon banner have been signed to a two-year overall deal with Charlie Ebersol and Mike Lanigan’s The Company. Henry is currently the Head of Unscripted Development at The Company. Under the exclusive deal, Henry will develop unscripted television formats under The Company shingle and continue to serve as executive producer of The Company’s CNBC series West Texas Investors Club.
Documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit has launched Scenic, a virtual reality content studio that will produce original nonfiction documentary shorts and series for VR platforms including Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift. They’ll be released via the Brooklyn-based company’s website and app and through exclusive distribution partners. Scenic plans to produce over 40 such projects over its first year, and subjects will cover arts, politics, design, science, social issues, personal stories and more.
As noted in Exec Shuffle, Vivendi has officially closed the deal to acquire the pay TV business of Italian media conglom Mediaset in a strategic alliance. The deal paves the way for Vivendi to create a pan-Euro free-to-air, pay TV and over-the-top platform that can compete with Netflix and Sky. Under the deal, the two companies swap 3.5% of each other’s stock, with Vivendi also acquiring control over Mediaset Premium, in which Mediaset owned 89%. Vivendi will also take over the remaining 11% owned by Spain’s Telefonica.
In a joint venture with Turkish advertising group Satis Ofisi, Sony Pictures Television Networks has acquired a majority stake in Turkish free-to-air network Planet TV. Planet TV has four channels: Pembe, which airs Turkish soaps and dramas; Turk, which airs local movies; cooking channel Mutfak and Cocuk, a kids channel. Under the pact Satis Ofisi will sell ads for the Planet TV portfolio. This is Sony’s first entry into the Turkish TV market.
Producer Michelle Nader has inked a new two-year pact with Warner Bros. TV. Nader is the current executive producer for 2 Broke Girls which makes its home at the studio. Under the pact, Nader will continue as executive producer/showrunner with creator Michael Patrick King for the upcoming season. In the second year of the deal, Nader will begin shepherding new projects for Warner Bros. TV.
Distribution company Abramorama has signed a deal with Italian company Rai Com, the sales arm of Italian public network Rai, to bring the All’Opera program to domestic audiences. All’Opera is a collection of Italian opera productions, captured in HD, such as Verdi’s La Traviata as performed in opera houses in Milan, Rome, Turin and Venice.
Producer Danielle Claman Gelber has left her post as EVP and head of development for Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment to start her own production company, which will have a first-look deal with NBC. She was at Wolf Ent. for five years where she and her team developed the series Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med, as well as the current Chicago Justice pilot.
Director Antoine Fuqua has inked a multiple-year first-look television deal with The Weinstein Co. Under the deal, TWC will have first-look options with Fuqua to direct, develop or produce his next TV projects. Fuqua’s first project will be Mario Puzo’s Omerta, the final book in the author’s trilogy that started with The Godfather. A pilot will shoot this summer, although a network has not been attached as of yet. Fuqua will also executive produce the CBS’ TV adaption of Training Day, from Warner Bros. Television.
Producer Dragos Savulescu has signed a multi-picture development and financing deal with Cross Creek Pictures. Under the non-exclusive deal, Cross Creek and Savulescu will finance development for a slate of films in the $20 million to $65 million budget range. Their first project together will be on Brad Pitt’s Plan B’s film, He Wanted The Moon. Previously, Savulescu acquired Kentauros Studios in Bucharest in 2013 and teamed with Mandragora Studios to create a full-service studio in Eastern Europe.