World Screen

MILAN, February 21: Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest offices were searched by Milan police yesterday, according to news wires, as part of a fraud investigation involving the former Italian prime minister. The investigation stems from Mediaset’s acquisition of television rights for U.S. …

MADRID, February 21: Italy’s De Agostini, which owns a majority stake in Spain’s Antena 3, is planning a bid for Telefónica’s 75-percent stake in Endemol, according to wire reports. De Agostini now joins a fray that includes fellow Italian group …

ENGLEWOOD, February 21: EchoStar Asia Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of EchoStar Communications Corporation, has made a $40 million investment in Korea’s TU Media Corp., which delivers satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (S-DMB) services to more than 1 million subscribers. The investment …

PARIS, February 21: Nonce Paolini has been nominated as the new CEO of TF1, with longtime chief Patrick Le Lay relinquishing that function but remaining as chairman of the French broadcaster. The succession, due to be approved at the AGM …

CARMEL, February 21: According to a new study by Adams Media Research, consumer spending on movie and TV downloads will hit $4.1 billion by 2011. The report, Video on the Internet: Ad-Supported Streaming and Download-to-Own, also notes that ad spending …

TORONTO, February 20: CBC International Sales has appointed former Portfolio Entertainment executive Stephen Kelley as its sales manager. Apart from fulfilling his managerial role, Kelley will concentrate on brokering deals in the U.S. and Canada. He was most recently the …

COLOGNE/BARCELONA, February 20: Independent sales and distribution outfit ohm:tv has taken on the Spanish distribution rights to properties from the Sitcom Group in Italy and Netherlands Public Broadcasting’s NPB Sales. ohm:tv will be representing Sitcom Group’s entire catalogue in the …

LONDON, February 20: Outright Distribution, formerly Screentime Partners, has secured sales around the world for Grape Escape and Counter Culture, two factual properties from its finished third-party programming slate. Grape Escape, a 10×30-minute series that chronicles the story of one …

BUENOS AIRES, February 20: Telefe International has shored up a range of new deals on key titles like Montecristo, and has added a new title to its slate: Romeo and Juliet, a telenovela adaptation by Wild Angel’s Raul Lecouna of …

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, February 20: Jetix Europe has acquired the European pay-TV rights to the adventure comedy Iggy Arbuckle, produced by Blueprint Entertainment in association with National Geographic Kids’ Entertainment, for launch across its network this August. Jetix Europe has also acquired …