Warner Bros.


Tax breaks fuel UK’s global production hub ambitions

When UK Chancellor George Osborne sat down on March 20 having presented his Budget, the huzzahs of television producers should have been heard even above his own backbenchers, but the picture is a mixed one, reports Tim Adler. This year’s Finance Bill in the UK finally approved tax breaks for high-end drama production, animation and […]

Time Warner channels biz up, Warner Bros. down

US media giant Time Warner’s networks business, which houses Turner Broadcasting System and HBO, posted strong revenues and earnings in its parent’s first quarter financial results. Time Warner’s networks’ business grew revenues 3% to US$3.7 billion for the three months to March 31, 2013, and operating income was up 11% to US$1.3 billion. However, declines […]

Warner Bros. investing in UK TV, creative industries training

Hollywood studio Warner Bros. is launching a range of skills and training initiatives in the UK to coincide with the inauguration of its new production complex in Leavesden, Hertfordshire. Under the Warner Bros. Creative Talent banner, the major will launch scholarships attached to work placements at Leavesden and elsewhere and mentoring, apprenticeships and training courses […]

Voddler goes global with file-sharing revamp

Scandinavian VOD site Voddler is going global with a revamped service and new focus on legal content sharing with friends. The new-look Voddler revolves around two new services – LiveShelf and ViewShare. These allow viewers to assemble a cloud-based ‘shelf’ of content that they can access from any device and share with up to 10 […]

Warner: UK tax credit won’t affect US drama

The UK president of Warner Bros. has claimed the Hollywood studio will not relocate US series to Britain simply to utilise the new high-end drama tax credit system. Warner Bros and its studio counterparts such as Disney have come under criticism from UK drama producers over their role in the development of the UK drama […]

Experts warn UK producers over drama tax credits

A pair of top British drama executives have warned UK producers could miss out on the benefits of the incoming UK tax credits system to US rivals. Justin Thomas-Glover and Patrick Irwin of new UK drama production finance consultancy Far Moor pointed to CBS-owned network Showtime’s decision to use the credit, which comes into play […]

MTV channels in Poland renew Warner Bros. deal

Viacom International Media Networks Polska has renewed a programming deal with Warner Bros. and will take a range of titles from the Hollywood studio for its channels in the country. VIMN Polska comprises MTV Polska, VH1, Viva Polska, Comedy Central Polska, and Nickelodeon. Under the terms of a renewed two-year programming deal the channels will […]

Alloy Digital gets US$30 million cash boost

Multiplatform producer Alloy Digital has won a US$30 million investment from private equity house ABS Capital. Alloy Digital has been on an acquisition spree recently and acquired digital producers and channel operators Generate, Smosh, B5 Media, Clevver Media and The Escapist. It claims that, cumulatively, its sites generate 90 million unique visitors a month, many […]

Tesco begins Club Card TV roll out

Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, has started testing its Club Card TV streaming service and is expected to roll it out to its customers soon. The over-the-top service is in beta test mode and only available to Tesco employees. It is being run by Blinkbox, the streaming service that Tesco acquired in 2011. The Club […]

P7S1 inks Hunger Games TV deal

ProSiebenSat.1 has picked up free-to-air TV rights to a raft of upcoming Lionsgate movies including the third and fourth instalments of The Hunger Games franchise. ProSieben has German and Austrian free TV rights to Lionsgate’s movies in Germany and Austria. It also has second window pay TV and VOD rights. The German broadcast group concluded […]