World Screen

LA PLAINE SAINT DENIS, June 10: AB International Distribution has signed new deals for the 8×52-minute mini-series The Avignon Prophecy in Italy, Belgium and Spain. The rights for the series have already been sold in Hungary (RTL Klub), Switzerland (TSR), …

SILVER SPRING, June 10: Discovery Communications has named Julie Robertson as its VP of domestic licensing, while Jo Edwards has been upped to VP of international licensing. Robertson will report to Patrick Gates, the president and general manager of Discovery …

LOS ANGELES, June 9: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has taken issue with the deal inked between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), noting that there are …

NEW YORK, June 9: As the Licensing Show kicks off in New York tomorrow, the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) has revealed that of the $5.98 billion in royalty fees paid for licensed products in North America in 2007, …

NEW YORK, June 9: In a deal valued at 70 million euros ($109.4 million), GE and NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund, together with GMT Communications Partners (GMT), an independent European private-equity group, have acquired a majority stake in Bigpoint, a …

MONTE CARLO, June 9: The 48th Monte-Carlo Television Festival opened last night with the European premiere of the full-length television film Father, based on Andrei Platonov’s short story The Return. During the opening ceremony at Monte Carlo’s Grimaldi Forum, the …

TORONTO, June 9: GlassBOX Television, the Canadian company that operates BITE TV, has received C$5 million in financing from several investors, including former Alliance Atlantis executive Ted Riley and ex-CHUM chief Jay Switzer. The series A financing, led by Toronto …

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, June 9: Jetix Europe has inked an agreement with an affiliate of its majority shareholder, The Walt Disney Company, for the distribution of its channels and digital content across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), effective July 1. …

TORONTO/BANFF, June 9: Shaftesbury Films has acquired Smokebomb Entertainment, a developer of original multiplatform digital content, with Smokebomb’s executive producers, Daniel Dales and Jarrett Sherman, heading up the newly created digital-media division. Smokebomb’s name remains intact and the company will …

LONDON, June 9: FIVER has secured the rights to two celebrity-based observational reality series from E! in the U.S.: Living Lohan and Denise Richards: It’s Complicated. Living Lohan, from E! Entertainment Television, stars celebrity mom and manager Dina Lohan as …