BBC Licence Fee Will Not Rise As Much As Previously Promised, Gov’t Confirms, As It Launches Funding Model Review

FBI: Most Wanted is making a return very soon.

Rishi Sunak has announced that plans to hike the earnings threshold for bringing family members to Britain will not be fully imposed until 2025 after the announcement came under fire.

The Scottish Government is in line to freeze the threshold for the higher rate of income tax in the Budget today.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed when the General Election will be held.

Strictly Come Dancing stars Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola have been announced as the winners of this year's 2023 series.

Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola appeared to be closer than ever on Wednesday as the Strictly Come Dancing finalists posed with the iconic Glitterball trophy ahead of this weekend's finale where they will battle it out for the 2023 winning title.

One of the remaining Strictly Come Dancing couples is said to be displaying a ‘telepathic connection’ that could guarantee their win this weekend. Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola will battle it out on the dance floor to be named the show’s 2023 champions.

Amanda Abbington will not be part of the final celebrations for Strictly Come Dancing this weekend.

Freeform is revealing the fate of your favorite TV shows.

Good afternoon Insiders, here we go again with a busy old week in TV and film. Max Goldbart penning the newsletter. Read on and sign up here.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC insiders have voiced alarm over a funding deal that has blown a £90M ($113M) hole in the UK broadcaster’s finances and sources say potentially threatens its independence.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Cameron revealed last month that he’s currently knee deep in the “very hectic” post-production of “Avatar 3.” Neither the director nor Disney is ready to unveil the title for “Avatar 3,” but it sounds like it won’t be “The Seed Bearer” as Cameron once considered. The titles for Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels have become social media fodder ever since November 2018 when the BBC reported the four movies would have the following names: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Avatar: The Seed Bearer,” “Avatar: The Tulkun Rider,” and “Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.” Cameron told Entertainment Tonight in 2019: “I can neither confirm nor deny — alright, here’s what I’ll tell ya: Those titles are among titles that are in consideration.

If you believe the scheduling, as of now, then Marvel Studios is putting all of its 2024 film eggs in one basket, “Deadpool 3.” Thankfully, anticipation for “Deadpool 3” is through the roof, as it’s a beloved franchise and the new one will be the first in the MCU. And if set leaks are any indication, the film is going to have a ton of Easter Eggs and cameos.

British TV vet Samir Shah has been unveiled as the new BBC Chair, coming with a major decision on the licence fee imminent.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore’s Refinery Media has launched a global co-production fund that will allocate up to 50% of production budgets for projects exploring the use of virtual production in films, series and unscripted shows. The fund was revealed at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum and Market. “Asia’s Next Top Model,” “SupermodelMe Revolution” and “The Century Egg” are among Refinery’s previous credits.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As soon as news hit in November that Nintendo and Sony Pictures were joining forces for a live-action movie based on the The Legend of Zelda video games, many fans started to predict the the studios had the next “Lord of the Rings” on their hands. Not so fast. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the film’s director Wes Ball said he’s long envisioned a Zelda movie not as a “Rings”-like epic but as a live-action Hayao Miyazaki movie.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said that a £15 increase in the BBC licence fee would be "high". Her comments come after reports that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning to block a 9% rise in the annual charge.

The BBC is staring down the barrel of another real terms funding cut after the UK government signaled its intention to renege on the 2022 license fee deal.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has shut down rumours that Robert Downey Jr. will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).Speaking to Vanity Fair for a new profile piece on Downey, Feige has revealed that Marvel Studios will not be bringing back the Iron Man actor after the character was killed off in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.Feige said, citing Downey Jr.’s final performance as Iron Man: “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again.

Michaela Zee Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Kevin Feige. In a recent Vanity Fair cover story about Downey Jr., the president of Marvel Studios addressed whether or not they would resurrect Iron Man/Tony Stark after his death in “Avengers: Endgame.” “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said of Stark’s final moments in the 2019 film.