Australian broadcaster and media company the Seven Network is merging with heavy equipment company WesTrac to create a Seven Group Holdings. Seven said the new, diversified, group will hold a 47% stake in Seven Media Group, the entity that houses Seven’s free-to-air TV interests as well the digital joint venture with Yahoo!, Yahoo!7 and its […]
Adult entertainment specialist Playboy has teamed with IMG, which will handle the licensing of its products in Asia. Playboy produces adult content and operates channels the world over and CEO Scott Flanders said that it will increasingly look to partnership and licensing deals because the company remains “a long way from effectively monetizing the power […]
The fledgling industry in original content made for the web will grow rapidly over the next few years, according new research. Content Economics estimates that £30 million (US$46.9 million) was spent in Europe and the US on producing web series last year and it forecasts that that total will rise to £90 million by 2013. […]
John De Mol’s Talpa Media is teaming with Warner Bros to create formats for the US market. Talpa will work with Warner’s cable series production unit, Warner Horizon Television, and develop series for the US based on its catalogue of formats. The deal gives Warner Horizon exclusive rights to develop successful Talpa formats, with Talpa, […]
UK pay TV channel Sky1 has acquired animated series Glenn Martin DDS from Tornante, the company backed by former Disney boss Michael Eisner. Sky1, the flagship entertainment channel of News Corp-backed UK pay TV operator BSkyB, said it will put the first episode of the series out on March 11 in a 9.30pm slot. The […]
Movie company Working Title is teaming with NBC Universal to create a new TV production company, Working Title Television (WTTV). Its first project is Love Bites, a pilot for US network NBC based on the romantic comedy anthology Love Bites, created by Sex and the City executive producer Cindy Chupack. Marc Buckland (My Name is […]
RDF Rights is launching cooking format Iron Chef at MIP TV. The show, which started out on Fuji TV in Japan, pits everyday cooks against ‘Iron Chefs’. It has recently been sold to UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 4 and RDF will be selling the new UK version and the format in Cannes. The international launch […]
Warner Bros. has launched its first branded TV service in central and eastern Europe, rolling out WarnerTV on the Onet.pl Polish Internet platform. As well as launching the subscription WarnerTV service, Warner Bros. is also supplying content for Onet.pl’s own video-on-demand service, which allows users to access movies and series via the Internet at vod.onet.pl. […]
BBC Worldwide will launch Luther, the new cop series from the team behind Spooks and featuring The Wire star Idris Elba, at its Showcase event, which takes place next week. The series casts Elba as Luther, a troubled, philosophical cop on a crusade. The show is a BBC production. Director Sam Miller, Producer Katie Swinden […]
Orange has inked a deal with film distributor SND that gives it several first-run features for its French pay TV service. The deal with SND gives Orange movies including The Hurt Locker and the second Twilight film. Orange will make the films available on its Orange cinéma series service. Orange has invested heavily in premium […]
