World Screen

LONDON, April 30: This summer, Five will bring back the classic British series Superstars, which pits top athletes from different sports against each other. Produced by TWI, a division of IMG Media, Superstars is set to return as an 8×1-hour …

NEW YORK, April 30: Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) has reached a raft of digital distribution partnerships, including one with online video-sharing site YouTube, to launch the Playboy Audience Network, which will highlight its free and ad-supported lifestyle programming. In addition …

SANTA MONICA, April 30: Lionsgate has entered into a joint-venture partnership with Ish Entertainment, the company set up by former VH1 staffers Michael Hirschorn and Stella Stolper that is producing Paris Hilton’s My New BFF for MTV. With offices in …

TOKYO, April 30: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has granted the broadcast rights in Japan for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games to the Japan Consortium, an association of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and NAB (the National Association …

BURBANK, April 30: In line with its strategy of rolling out branded ad-supported and subscription-based VOD services worldwide, Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) has formed a new Branded Services division, to be led by Malcolm Dudley-Smith. The new unit …

LONDON, April 30: Virgin Media is teaming with the BBC to bring the online catch-up iPlayer service to its 3.5 million cable-TV customers. Viewers using the BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media will be able to watch full-screen pictures at full …

HAMILTON, April 30: Central European Media Enterprises has reported a 51-percent rise in revenues for the first quarter to $223.5 million, with a target of reaching $1.1 billion in revenues for the full year. Operating income for the quarter increased …

PARIS, April 30: In its bid to strengthen its online presence, French broadcaster M6 has acquired 100 percent of Cyréalis, which operates a range of websites in the country, including the tech magazine and download destination Clubic.com and the gaming …

LONDON, April 30: For the nine months ended March 31, 2008, BSkyB reported a loss of £118 million, versus the profit of £388 million in the year-ago period, due to an impairment charge of £474 million relating to its investment …

NEW YORK, April 30: The video rental giant Blockbuster is said to be in talks about buying a stake in the new premium TV channel and VOD service from Paramount Pictures, MGM and Lionsgate. The new service, set to feature …