World Screen

BURBANK: As part of its efforts to expand into prime-time programming, Cookie Jar Entertainment has become the North American licensing agent and programming distributor for Lucha Libre USA and the Lucha Libre AAA league. Lucha Libre is a sensation in Mexico and …

NEW YORK: Australia’s Network Ten, CITV in the U.K. and RTL2 in Germany are among the latest round of deals on 4Kids Entertainment’s Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Also on board for season one of the show are AB Group in France, Mediaset in Italy, …

NEW YORK: Peacock Productions, NBC’s nonfiction production outfit, has clinched a development deal with award-winning columnist and author Solomon Jones.  Jones began his writing career in 1992 while living in a homeless shelter. Contributing to the Philadelphia Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and …

LONDON: Production has begun on Going Postal, Sky1’s third adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, with a cast that includes David Suchet, Richard Coyle, Charles Dance and Claire Foy. The 2×2-hour HD production is slated to premiere on Sky1 and Sky1 HD in April …

STOCKHOLM: Viasat Broadcasting has added catch-up services from Swedish broadcasters TV4 Group and SVT to its on demand offering. TV4 Play joins Viasat OnDemand after SVT Play was added to the digital box last week. Viasat OnDemand was first launched as an …

BURBANK: Christian Slater has joined the cast of Jerry Bruckheimer’s new ABC drama The Forgotten, which premieres Tuesday, September 22 at 10 p.m. The show focuses on a team of dedicated amateurs—“The Forgotten Network”—who work on murder cases involving unidentified …

ROME: According to Italian regulator AGCOM, SKY Italia’s revenues topped those of Mediaset in 2008, coming in just behind state-controlled RAI. A speech by AGCOM’s chairman, Corrado Calabro, cited in the Wall Street Journal, notes: "SKY Italia has consolidated its position, becoming …

OTTAWA: Canada’s conventional broadcasters are praising a new ruling by the CRTC that ups the contribution that cable and satellite platforms must make towards local programming. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says the Local Programming Improvement Fund will …

LOS ANGELES: A host of broadcasters around the world, including the BBC, TF1, Nine Network, NHK and Star World, have joined the U.S. networks in delivering live coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial in Los Angeles today, which is likely …

Cyber Group’s Growth Track Pierre Sissmann, the president of French producer and distributor Cyber Group Studios, talks to TV Kids Weekly about plans for expansion. Earlier this month, Cyber Group Studios raised  1.5 million euros to boost its internal development …