World Screen

TORONTO: CBC has commissioned an additional 15 11-minute episodes of Animal Mechanicals from Halifax Film to be distributed by DECODE Enterprises. In further deals for Animal Mechanicals, DECODE scored a home-entertainment agreement with Phase 4 Films for English- and French-speaking …

SANTA MONICA: Just under six months since reaching a deal to acquire TV Guide Network and its accompanying website from Macrovision Solutions Corporation, Lionsgate is giving up a 49-percent stake in the venture to One Equity Partners for $123 million. One Equity …

LOS ANGELES: Adness Entertainment has teamed up with Namco Bandai Games to create video games for the Kamen Rider Dragon Knight property for handheld and console platforms. The games will be published throughout North and South America by Namco Bandai’s …

LONDON: At this year’s MIP JUNIOR, BKN International will unveil Joshua Blake: The Agency, a new animated project budgeted at $13 million with some $5 million already secured from a deal with a prominent Canadian outfit. The new series will …

LOS ANGELES: The MoonScoop Group’s animated preschool series Dive Olly Dive! has been selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to be part of upcoming worldwide youth educational projects. UNESCO will use characters from the show …

NEW YORK: Time Warner’s board of directors today authorized the long-expected spin-off of AOL into an independent, publicly traded company. "We believe that a separation will be the best outcome for both Time Warner and AOL," said Jeff Bewkes, the chairman …

  CEO RTL Group   When RTL Television launched, in 1984, as RTL Plus, it brought German viewers a lot more than an alternative to the state broadcasters ARD and ZDF. It offered hit series from the U.S. networks and …

MONTREAL: CBBC is on board for a third season of its own version of Prank Patrol, the Apartment 11 Productions creation distributed worldwide by MarVista Entertainment. Apartment 11 Productions licensed the format to the original YTV commission—celebrating its 100th episode this …

TORONTO: The Government of Ontario’s Next Generation of Jobs Fund has granted $23 million in financing to Starz Animation Toronto, which recently wrapped Universal/Focus Features’ 9 and is working on Miramax Films’ Gnomeo & Juliet. The studio, established in 2007, was granted the …

HILVERSUM/LONDON: Endemol is joining forces with Samsung Mobile U.K. and AOL-owned social networking site Bebo for a new online music series called Beat. Created and produced by Endemol, the magazine-style daily series is set for a June 19 rollout on …