World Screen

LONDON, June 23: In its response to Ofcom’s consultation on the future of public-service broadcasting (PSB) in the U.K., the BBC has rejected the idea of sharing the license fee with its competitors, proposing instead “practical partnerships” to help boost …

CLEVELAND, June 23: American Greetings Corporation has obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the proposed sale of DIC Entertainment to Cookie Jar Entertainment over concerns for its Strawberry Shortcake brand. Cookie Jar announced on Friday that it would spend $31.5 …

BURBANK, June 23: Camp Rock premiered as Disney Channel’s second highest-rated original movie of all time on Friday with an average of 8.9 million viewers, second only to High School Musical 2, becoming cable’s most-watched entertainment broadcast of the 2007/08 …

HONG KONG/LONDON, June 23: Starting today, ITV Worldwide is providing selected pay-TV operators across Asia a preview of its new pan-regional general-entertainment channel. The preview channel will be based around Granada International’s existing UKTV channel currently distributed in the Middle …

NEW YORK, June 23: HBO’s critically acclaimed original series In Treatment is due to return with Gabriel Byrne for a second season in 2009. Production is set to begin this fall in New York. Byrne resumes his role as Dr. …

NEW YORK/LONDON, June 23: IMG Worldwide’s sports production and distribution arm has reached a deal to exclusively represent all of Fox Sports International’s (FSI) programming outside of the U.S. IMG Sports Media will assume full distribution responsibilities for FSI’s catalogue …

LOS ANGELES, June 23: Comcast-owned Fandango has acquired Movies.com, a movie content site previously owned by The Walt Disney Internet Group, and will now provide online ticketing for Movies.com users, with access to more than 15,000 screens across the U.S. …

SAN DIEGO, June 23: MediaFLO USA, ESPN Mobile TV and NBC Sports on NBC 2Go will provide comprehensive live coverage of championship tennis from Wimbledon on the FLO TV service, starting today. Available to AT&T subscribers as AT&T Mobile TV …

CULVER CITY, June 23: John Weiser will continue as the president of distribution for Sony Pictures Television (SPT), overseeing all of the company’s U.S. sales operations. Weiser also directs all distribution of SPT product to the Spanish-language networks serving U.S. …

STUDIO CITY, June 23: Crown Media Holdings has signed a multi-year agreement with Cox Communications for the rights to distribute the high-definition version of Hallmark Movie Channel. Cox currently distributes Hallmark Channel and the standard-definition version of Hallmark Movie Channel. …