Banijay’s Chief Commercial Officer Owain Walbyoff to Exit Company (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann gave Scott Stuber a shoutout when discussing the state of the streaming giant’s film operation, saying the exec deserves “a lot of credit” for “what he built.”

Kaiser Chiefs have doubled down on their claim that they once turned down lyrics suggested to them by David Bowie.The Leeds band first spoke about their interaction with the rock icon in an interview with News of the World back in 2011, when drummer Nick Hodgson noted that they were able to contact Bowie through a mutual colleague, the legendary producer Tony Visconti.Visconti had co-produced their album ‘The Future is Medieval’, released in the same year, and was on close terms with Bowie, having collaborated on over ten of his albums, including classics such as ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’.“Tony texted David asking for his suggestions to finish off a verse [on ‘Man On Mars’] and he came up with a couple of lines,” Hodgson recalled. “I’m such a big Bowie fan I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they just weren’t right, so I’ve missed out on a Hodgson/Bowie writing credit.

K.J. Yossman BBC Studios has tapped Nicola Pinn for the newly-created role of chief operating officer of factual productions. BBC Studios factual managing director Kate Ward unveiled Pinn’s promotion.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Matthew Loeb is heading into what is likely to be the most consequential negotiation of his 16-year tenure to date as international president of IATSE. The union’s contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are set to begin March 4. After last year’s protracted strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, the industry is on edge about the possibility of another work stoppage.

EXCLUSIVE: Few people embody the act of balancing legacy media with the digital frontier quite like Bill Owens.

La Liga boss Javier Tebas has stated that he "doesn't care" about Mason Greenwood's past and wants the Manchester United forward to remain in Spain beyond this season.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed its upcoming 2024 Indian slate and Monika Shergill, VP, content has outlined the streamer’s commissioning philosophy and strategy for the country. New titles on the slate include: Luv Ranjan comedy film “Wild Wild Punjab”; Neeraj Pandey heist film “Sikandar Ka Muqaddar”; scripted Anubhav Sinha thriller series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack”; Kapil Sharma’s unscripted comedy series “The Great Indian Kapil Show”; and cricket themed docu-series “The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan,” featuring top Indian and Pakistani cricketers.

Dan Lin has been appointed as Netflix’s new head of film. He’ll replace Scott Stuber, who previously announced he’d be stepping down from the streaming behemoth in March. Lin’s name had been in the mix — along with recently departed Disney executive Sean Bailey, former Universal chief Stacey Snider and others — since the top film job opened in January.

Deadline has learned that producer Dan Lin is taking over for Scott Stuber as Netflix’s Top Film Boss.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Phil Mattingly is discovering that mornings aren’t the only place where one can rise and shine at CNN. The journalist, recently named co-anchor of a morning program that CNN subsequently scuttled, has been named chief domestic correspondent at the Warner Bros,. Discovery-backed network.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael MacMillan retired from the world of television 17 years ago. Except, he didn’t.

Angelique Jackson CAA has signed Margaret Zhang for representation as an emerging filmmaker, writer and producer. The new alliance marks the next step for Zhang, who officially departs her role as editor-in-chief of Vogue China at the end of May.

Ricky Wilson has recounted the time that Shane MacGowan once asked for an apple from Kaiser Chiefs‘ rider, which he later used to smoke crack.Wilson was speaking to The Guardian for their ‘Flashback series’, in which they recreate a photo of their younger self and reflect on how their lives have changed since the photo was taken. The shot Wilson recreated was from New Years Eve 2001, in which he was covered in the streamers from a party popper.While he was recalling how “starstruck” the young Kaiser Chiefs would get around other artists as they were breaking through, Wilson mentioned the amusing incident with the late frontman of The Pogues which took place at a festival.“I was always starstruck, too – we’d get to a festival, lock ourselves in our dressing room, and point and stare at all the other artists as they arrived. Shane MacGowan once came into our dressing room.

Subrata De, one of the most high-ranking executives at Vice Media, is leaving as the youth-skewing company.

In his first public comments about a planned sports streaming joint venture with Disney and Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said it will increase the companies’ reach and not add to their cord-cutting woes.

EXCLUSIVE: Vice Media is in a state of flux as its new owners decide on a long-term strategy for the beleaguered youth media brand.

Perthshire’s new police chief this week urged residents to report any suspected wildlife crime activity.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sony Pictures Entertainment communications chief Robert Lawson has been promoted to head of all corporate communications for its Tokyo-based parent Sony. The choice to move Lawson, who joined Sony amid the infamous cyber attack and email leaks at the entertainment group in 2014, into the top corp comms role is indicative of Sony’s significant focus on its entertainment divisions within the company’s larger portfolio; movies, music and gaming accounts for more than half of Sony’s revenue and profit.

Alex Ritman 42, the L.A.- and London-based management and production company behind titles including “The Silent Twins,” “The Girl Before” and “The Flatshare,” has appointed former Universal International Studios exec David O’Donoghue to the position of chief operating office with immediate effect. O’Donoghue will run the company’s operations and business development globally, in addition to having oversight of business affairs and production across the portfolio. He’ll work from 42’s London office.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Kirsten Niehuus, head of German film fund Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, is confident that the changes to film funding proposed by the German government recently will have a “very positive effect on the production scene in Berlin-Brandenburg.” The proposed changes to the funding system were presented last week to German lawmakers in the Bundestag by commissioner for culture and media Claudia Roth (see here). Speaking to Variety Saturday at a party Medienboard hosted at Berlin’s Holzmarkt, Niehuus said the changes “will mean that we would have a tax system in place that could compete, for instance, with Budapest or Prague, so that not so many German productions would go and shoot somewhere else, and more foreign productions would come and shoot in Germany.” Looking at the media landscape across Germany she notes that one major challenge is the decision by high-end outlets such as Paramount+, HBO and Sky to cancel local productions, and she noted “the streamers are not such reliable partners anymore.” She added: “So I think producers are having a really hard time at the moment.” On a happier note, the Berlin government raised Medienboard’s budget by Euros 6 million over the next two years, which will be targeted at the exhibition sector in the region, allowing for the upgrading of facilities at movie theaters.