Television program buyers and sellers from around the world are converging on the French Riviera town of Cannes this week for the annual Mipcom market. One of two key programming markets – the other is April's MipTV – Mipcom last year cranked 13,700 executives, programmers and exhibitors through its turnstiles, posting lifts in the number of buyers for both traditional and streaming television. Though the market showcases all genres, reality formats were eclipsed by scripted programming several years ago, a trend which shows no signs of waning. Among the key program launches this year are eOne's Designated Survivor, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Fox's reboot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, ITV Studios' big-ticket historical drama Victoria and Sony's Halcyon.

Graeme-Evans to deliver lecture 

Veteran drama producer Posie Graeme-Evans will deliver the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture at the annual Screen Forever conference in November. The conference, which is held annually, is organised by the industry body Screen Producers Australia. Graeme-Evans, lately a best-selling novelist, has a robust television resume including the long-running Nine Network drama hit McLeod's Daughters and the hit children's series Hi-5. She also worked on the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the ABC current affairs program Nationwide. The lecture is named in honour of one of Australia's pioneering television producers and the founder of the Crawford studio, which produced a number of high-profile hits, including The Sullivans.

Spice girl Brown is back

Television is an industry with a notoriously short memory but is it so short that the Seven Network doesn't remember the nasty and protracted litigation which severed its relationship with former The X-factor judge Melanie Brown? The network has confirmed the 41-year-old Yorkshire-born former Spice Girl is returning to the show she defected from in 2013, after Nine hired her to be a judge on its talent format Australia's Got Talent. Seven sued and the court ruled in its favour, preventing Brown from appearing on AGT, and forcing Nine to hire another ex-Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell, to replace her. Brown will serve as the "underdog judge" on the show, saving eliminated artists from being cut by the show's three main judges Guy Sebastian, Iggy Azalea and Adam Lambert.

Crime conversation opened

The third season of the SBS True Stories podcast series will explore a series of alleged gay hate crimes in South Australia, in the wake of investigations into similar crimes in New South Wales. The public broadcaster SBS-backed series will release five episodes in the podcast series, each focusing on an individual case, in a style reminiscent of true crime podcasts such as Serial. The series is the work of award-winning Australian investigative journalist and writer Mark Whittaker. "It's important to reveal the truth behind these crimes," Whittaker said. The podcasts represent "an engaging way of opening up the conversation around a buried part of Australia's history," he added. The podcasts are available from sbs.com.au/programs/true-stories.