World Screen

BURBANK/NEW YORK, October 2: Nickelodeon is celebrating its 54th consecutive quarter as the top cable outlet during the whole day for kids 2 to 11 and total viewers, while Disney Channel is touting its position as the number one TV …

LONDON, October 2: BBC Global News is bolstering its presence on YouTube, adding video services in Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Persian and Urdu. These join the existing English-language BBC World News channel on the video-sharing site. By the end of …

LOS ANGELES, October 2: The Screen Actors Guild’s negotiating committee is asking the union’s national board to seek a strike authorization vote, after refusing to accept the final offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The …

CHICAGO, October 1: U.S. media and entertainment companies have “generally healthy” liquidity, according to research from Fitch Ratings, with media conglomerates like Disney and News Corp. positioned well to weather the current financial crisis. Fitch notes that Disney, News Corp., …

LOS ANGELES, October 1: The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), on behalf of the major Hollywood studios, has filed suit to prevent RealNetworks from distributing its RealDVD software, which the MPAA maintains allows the illegal duplication of movies. The …

LOS GATOS/ENGLEWOOD, October 1: Starz Entertainment has reached a deal to make some 2,500 movies, TV shows and concert specials available for instant online streaming by Netflix subscribers. Access to the Starz Play broadband subscription movie service will be made …

LONDON/BURBANK, October 1: Warner Bros. International Television Distribution has licensed The Mentalist, which opened to 15.6 million viewers on CBS last week, to Five in the U.K. Five has picked up the 13×1-hour series for its flagship channel as well …

LONDON, October 1: BBC Worldwide Channels has expanded the reach of its portfolio in Europe, inking a deal to launch the bouquet on the Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from early December 2008. The carriage deal includes the European debut …

LONDON/BUDAPEST, October 1: MTV Networks International’s Comedy Central Hungary launched to some 1.5 million cable and satellite homes today, featuring original local series as well as acquired international fare. The Hungarian-language channel, aimed at 18- to 49-year-olds, launched with an …

EMERYVILLE, October 1: ABC Mobile, a channel featuring full-length episodes of a number of ABC series, including Desperate Housewives and Lost, has launched on the mobile-content service MobiTV. The deal between MobiTV and Disney-ABC Television for ABC Mobile also covers …