World Screen

HONG KONG, October 5: Celestial Pictures’ Shaw Brothers titles will be available on free-to-air Australian TV for the first time, via a deal with Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS has licensed the free-TV rights to a package of martial arts …

LONDON, October 5: Granada International has sold the preschool animated series Pocoyo to Disney Channel across Scandinavia and the Baltics. The 52×7-minute series, produced by Zinkia Entertainment/Granada International in association with Granada Kids and Cosgrove Hall, will air on pay …

LONDON, October 5: Change Productions, a new factual outfit, has set up shop in London with the backing of National Geographic Television International. Headed by Ben Goold, Change Productions will specialize in factual programming for the British and international markets, …

MEXICO CITY/LOS ANGELES, October 5: Less than a month since picking up the format rights to La Heredera, Twentieth Television has acquired another TV Azteca novela: La Calle de las Novias (Brides’ Avenue). The show, originally featuring Silvia Navarro, Sergio …

LONDON, October 5: Zonemedia's Zone Europa channel has acquired the exclusive basic cable rights in Poland and Hungary to a range of feature films from NBC Universal International Television Distribution. The package includes Assassins, La Haine, Highlander, Leaving Las Vegas …

LOS ANGELES, October 5: The 27th American Film Market (AFM), set for November 1 to 8, will open with a record 589 films, a 10 percent increase over last year’s 534 films, including 384 market premieres. AFM has also launched …

COPENHAGEN, October 5: Zodiak Television announced today that it is in negotiations to acquire the British outfit Diverse Production from the FBC Group. Diverse, whose credits include Animal Rescue and Are We Being Served, was acquired by the FBC Group …

LONDON, October 5: The British media regulator Ofcom has named Ed Richards as CEO, effective immediately, succeeding Stephen Carter, who announced his intention to step down in May. Richards joined the Ofcom Board in March 2003. In July 2005 he …

LONDON, October 5: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has acquired A+, a dedicated anime channel that airs on Minimax in Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The channel will be part of SPTI’s international networks group, which includes over …

LOS ANGELES, October 5: Brad Greenspan, the founder of Myspace.com, today issued an online report at Freemyspace.com that alleges that the sale of the popular networking site to News Corporation earlier this year “intentionally defrauded shareholders out of tens of …