Showmax CEO Yolisa Phahle Leaving African Streamer

Studiocanal has named Patrick Schweitzer as CEO of its UK-based It’s a Sin and Years and Years producer Red Production Company.  An industry veteran, Schweitzer has worked across high-end television drama for 30 years. Prior to joining Red, he spent five years at Tall Story Pictures and executive produced such series as ITV’S Grace, Redemption, Bancroft season 2 and The Bay.  

Sophia Scorziello editor Just a few months after Macro lined up a new $90 million round of investment, Hollywood went on strike. Charles D. King, Macro’s CEO and founder, has been using his entrepreneurial drive to make the best of a tough situation.

The CEO of YouTube is standing by his company’s decision.

Sophia Scorziello editor In an industry on track to drive around $400 billion in revenue this year, it might seem fine for gaming companies to let go of the reins every now and then when hit games take off. But Javier Ferreira, co-CEO of Scopely (a mobile-first video game developer) argues that it’s very much a business of planning. He says, “We think of games as forever businesses.” Ferreira shared his thoughts on best practices for engaging with today’s gaming communities and the best IPs to invest at the “Big Business of Games with Scopely” panel during Variety’s Entertainment & Technology Summit Thursday.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has defended the decision to strip Russell Brand’s 6.6M-subscriber channel of ads, thereby preventing him from monetizing it following sexual assault allegations.

Sophia Scorziello editor South African crime writer Rudie Van Rensburg’s “Piranha” is set to be adapted into a new crime drama series from Strong Studios. Titled “Endangered,” the project is being shopped as a six-episode limited series written by screenwriter Jake Riddell (“Reyka,” “Grantchester”) and directed by BAFTA award winner Stuart Urban (“The Mystery of Suzy Lamplugh”).

Anette Novak is out at the Swedish Film Institute. 

EXCLUSIVE: “The UK’s role in the media multiverse” will take up plenty of airtime at the RTS Cambridge Convention, according to Theresa Wise, as the great-and-the-good of the TV industry prepare to gather for the biannual get-together.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Maxime Saada, the chair and CEO of Canal+ Group, will receive the Variety Vanguard Award at the Mipcom international content sales conference set for Oct. 16-19 in Cannes. The award recognizes television industry leaders who have made a significant contribution to the global business of entertainment.

Naman Ramachandran After a record-breaking first season, “The Real Housewives of Lagos” is returning for Season 2. Season 1 of the reality TV series saw the first episode break the first-day streaming record on Showmax Nigeria and become the only African title to crack the top 10 most-watched shows on the streaming service in 2022 across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

Barbie will contribute more than $125 million in gross billings to Mattel this year, the toymaker’s CFO said today in a shout-out to the “nice contribution” from the blockbuster film as it closes in on $1.4 billion worldwide.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey indicated that little progress has been made in the week-long carriage fight with Disney and he said a leaner, ESPN-free TV bundle “could stick” with price-sensitive Spectrum customers.

Creative Artists Agency has a new majority owner in French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault. After months of negotiations. Artémis, the Pinault family’s investment company, has agreed to acquire the majority stake in CAA that was previously held by global investment firm TPG.

“I don’t know that much in particular about this dispute, but it feels like this is a moment,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav about the current showdown between big cable provider Charter and the Disney.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount+ saw its first price increase this year with the launch of Paramount+ With Showtime, and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish says it won’t be the streamer’s last. The goal is to hike the cost of Paramount+ With Showtime once again at some point in the next two years. “Our plan is to raise price again, this isn’t our only price increase.

The anonymous artist Ghostwriter could be nominated for a Grammy for a song with vocals that aren’t even real.

Ellise Shafer At the Venice Film Festival press conference for Ava DuVernay’s new film “Origin” on Wednesday, the director revealed that she has previously been told not to apply to the festival, because “you won’t get in.” DuVernay is making history this year as the first African American woman in the festival’s 80-year history to have a film compete for the Golden Lion. “For Black filmmakers, we’re told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films.

Thania Garcia Universal Music Greater China (UMGC) has appointed Timothy Xu as its new chairman and CEO of the Greater China division. He will be responsible for the music company’s operations across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, effective immediately.

Skydance Media CEO David Ellison called the creative process a “community” where “both sides of this disagreement actually need one another to move forward. So, my hope is that we can find a path to compromise so that everybody can get back to work and we can position ourselves for success going forward.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rani R. Raad, a former president of CNN Commercial Worldwide, has been appointed CEO of Abu Dhabi-based media company International Media Investments.