World Screen

TORONTO: marblemedia has picked up the North American format rights to produce a version of the Cartoon Network U.K. series Skatoony for TELETOON Canada to air in spring 2010.  Currently in its third season on Cartoon Network, the successful television …

LONDON: ScreenOpus has secured a licensing deal for director Mark Losey’s psychological thriller The Hide with British movie network Film4. Produced by Poisson Rouge Pictures and Solution Films, The Hide is the story of a nervous birdwatcher who is tucked …

LONDON: The men’s entertainment channel Bravo will be the exclusive U.K. home of the new reality series Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling, produced by Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment and distributed by ShineReveille International.  The 8×1-hour series, which recently aired in the U.S. on …

WINNIPEG: Canwest Global Communications Corp has retained RBC Capital Markets to assist in the possible sale of five of its TV stations, including CJNT-TV in Montreal, so that it can focus on its flagship Global brand as well as its specialty networks. …

LOS ANGELES: A. Smith & Co. Productions has tapped Paige Davis to host its new syndicated series based on the popular For Dummies book series. Life For Dummies will cover a wide range of topics through a combination of interviews, …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has renewed its contract for Tomy to serve as the master toy licensee across Europe for the Teletubbies brand for the next three years.  Tomy has held the U.K. master toy license for the brand since 2001 …

LONDON: BSkyB has been awarded a fifth package of Premier League games, shelling out a total of £1.6 billion for the matches for the next three seasons, with the final package being awarded to Setanta. After being awarded four packages …

LONDON: Parthenon Kids has signed an exclusive worldwide TV and DVD distribution deal with Norwary’s CreaCon to launch the new property City of Friends at this year’s MIPTV. Created by Carl Christian Hamre, the CEO of CreaCon Entertainment, City of …

NEW YORK: An $8.4 billion impairment charge at News Corporation has resulted in the company posting a second quarter loss of $6.4 billion, versus the year-ago profit of $832 million. Total revenues at the company fell 8 percent to $7.8 billion, …

SANTA MONICA: Talk-show veteran Ricki Lake will serve as the new headmistress of VH1’s third installment of Charm School.  Charm School 3 with Ricki Lake, slated to premiere this summer, will feature the girls from Rock of Love Bus with …