World Screen

LONDON, October 2: BSkyB may be forced to shed its 17.9-percent stake in ITV, acquired last November, after the U.K.’s Competition Commission said the satellite platform’s interest in the commercial broadcaster “restricts competition and therefore operates against the public interest.” …

LOS ANGELES, October 2: The leaders of the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East have sent letters to their members seeking authorization to call a strike at “the most advantageous moment” after their current contract …

BARCELONA, October 1: Alba Sani has been named head of sales for Neptuno Films’ international distribution division, with responsibility for the distribution of children’s animated programming. Sani joined Neptuno in 2005 as a sales executive, managing programming sales to Asia, …

WASHINGTON, October 1: Ron Gloff has been appointed account manager at National Geographic Digital Motion, the stock footage service of National Geographic Digital Media. Based in Los Angeles, Gloff will be responsible for licensing content to entertainment clients in the …

LONDON, October 1: Granada International has appointed Tobias de Graaff as senior VP of sales for Europe, based in the company’s London offices. De Graaff will report to Tim Mutimer, the director of sales, and will manage the company’s international …

PARIS, October 1: Mediatoon will roll out two new animated series at MIPCOM, Inami and Bird’s Band, both addressing environmental and ecological issues in an entertaining way. The 2-D animated series Inami, co-produced by Ellipsanime and Seahorse Productions, focuses on …

LONDON, October 1: Distraction has inked a distribution deal with Talent Television for its new entertainment format Number One Fan, which will launch internationally at MIPCOM. Distraction will handle the television distribution rights for all international territories excluding the U.K., …

LOS ANGELES/LONDON, October 1: Fireworks International has reached a deal to distribute worldwide more than 300 hours from Harmony Gold’s television library. The agreement comes on the heels of Warner Bros. Pictures’ recent acquisition of the feature film rights to …

NEW YORK, October 1: CCI Entertainment has sold its successful youth reality series Ghost Trackers to HBO Family in the U.S., for debut in January 2008, with a sneak preview rolling out this month. Ghost Trackers features real kids in …

LOS ANGELES, October 1: Spike TV has unveiled a new slate of non-scripted original pilots from producers in the U.S. and the U.K., covering a broad spectrum of themes including action, comedy and factual entertainment. The original non-scripted pilot slate …