World Screen

LOS ANGELES: At last night’s 15th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, Slumdog Millionaire was given the statuette for best cast performance, while TV’s big winner was 30 Rock, which swept the comedy categories. The cast of 30 Rock was …

TORONTO: DECODE Enterprises has reached a deal for France 3 to broadcast the 26×22-minute 3-D series Chop Socky Chooks. The show, co-produced by DECODE Entertainment and Aardman Animations and targeting the 7-to-11 set, was commissioned by Cartoon Network worldwide and TELETOON in Canada.  Julien …

LOS ANGELES: NATPE, which takes place in Las Vegas next week, has made several additions to its lineup, including providing a sneak peek at Joss Whedon’s new FOX series Dollhouse.  Whedon’s first TV series since the cancelled Firefly is set …

ROME: Together with its formats distributor, Resonant TV, Mediaset Distribution will head to NATPE with a catalogue that is aimed at a diverse audience, covering film, drama and sitcoms.   The sitcom Young Enough has been around for 18 seasons …

LONDON: Liberty Global’s content division, Chellomedia, is reorganizing its channel portfolio operations in Central Europe, handling three channels from Chello Zone. Chellomedia now takes on the representation of Zone Romantica (for Poland, Hungary and Romania), Zone Europa and Zone Club (for Poland and …

MIAMI: More than 120 contemporary Spanish-language films have joined the schedule of VeneMovies in the past year, among them is Kada Kien Su Karma, starring Blanca Guerra and Jose Alonso. Other titles that have joined the U.S. pay-TV network are Esto Huele …

CHICAGO: Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) is expecting to report write-downs of more than $100 million in its next set of financials, with a projected operating loss for the fourth quarter. The company said it was expecting non-cash impairment charges related …

NEW YORK: VOOM HD Networks has extended its agreement with BSkyB to bring RUSH HD content to GO!VIEW, a SVOD offering for PlayStation Portable (PSP).  PSP owners who subscribe to GO!VIEW can now access RUSH HD’s extreme-sports content. RUSH HD programming joins …

NEW YORK: New Nielsen data reveals that 5.7 percent of American households, accounting for some 6.5 million homes, are unprepared for the impending switch to digital television. Those homes would not be able to receive any TV programming if the …

LONDON: The U.K.’s  Financial Services Authority (FSA) has imposed a £245,000 fine on Entertainment Rights (ER) for failing to disclose a fall in its 2008 projected profits in a timely manner. The breach dates back to a December 2006 U.S. home entertainment …