New player for streaming TV

Australia's already tight streaming market is to get a new player by the end of the year with US CBS boss Les Moonves confirming the studio's CBS All Access service would launch in Australia by the end of 2018. In the US the platform has a number of marquee titles including Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Fight and a remake of Stan's No Activity, however rights to to those shows are held with other channels or platforms in Australia. Moonves described the CBS acquisition of Ten as a "gateway to launch in that market", according to The Australian Financial Review. In the US the service as more than 2 million subscribers.

Daina Reid wins top award

Television director Daina Reid has been crowned with the award for best director of a television drama miniseries at the annual Directors Guild of Australia awards. Reid won for her work on the series Sunshine, which is also nominated at this year's Monte Carlo Television Festival. Wentworth's Fiona Banks won the award for direction of a television drama series; Banks also won for directing the children's series Mustangs FC. Other winners included Jonahan Brough (Rosehaven, for direction of a comedy program) and Danny Raco (Home and Away, for best direction of a television drama serial). Previously, Raco worked as an actor on Home and Away, Heartbreak High and Blue Heelers.

Making the cut

To recut or not to recut, that is the question. In a case which echoes curiously an infamous one in Australia (where Prisoner's producers, Grundy Television, recut episodes into the telemovie The Franky Doyle Story back in the day), Arrested Development's studio Fox has recut the show's fourth season of 15 longer 30-minute episodes into 22 episodes of 22 minutes each to help swing repeat sales. And the cast, who were paid per episode, are not happy. After the "recut", The Hollywood Reporter says, actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera and David Cross are asking for "added compensation". For what it's worth, when the case was fought over Prisoner, the judge ruled in favour of the actors.