World Screen

DOHA, July 17: The Middle Eastern news network Al Jazeera is calling for the immediate release of its Jerusalem bureau chief Walid Al Omary, who has been detained by Israeli authorities. According to Al Jazeera, Israeli authorities have been attempting …

NEW YORK, July 17: Frederick Huntsberry, who was upped to president of NBC Universal International just two months ago, is leaving the company to become COO of Paramount Pictures. Reporting to Paramount’s chairman and CEO, Brad Grey, Huntsberry will be …

BRUSSELS, July 17: The European Commission has cleared British investment fund Cinven’s acquisition of the French cable TV, broadband and telephony provider UPC France from Liberty Global. The 1.25-billion euros deal was first announced in March, with a deal formally …

LONDON, July 17: Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, is back at the number one spot of MediaGuardian’s annual ranking of the 100 most influential people in British media, with Apple chief Steve Jobs in second place and News …

COPENHAGEN, July 14: Zodiak Television World has promoted Karoliina Kytomaa to format acquisitions manager. Her remit includes ensuring all Zodiak intellectual property—including paper formats and original commissions created within the Zodiak group—are shared across all of its companies. She will …

LONDON, July 14: Zonemedia (formerly Zone Vision Networks) has appointed Philip Mordecai as commercial sales manager for Central and Eastern Europe. Mordecai will report to Mark Young, commercial sales director, and will work on maximizing commercial revenue from Zonemedia’s business …

LOS ANGELES/LONDON, July 14: Fox TV Studios-UK (FtvS-UK) has appointed Damon Pattison as head of entertainment as it works to expand its slate of prime-time entertainment and game show programming in the British market. Pattison joins FtvS-UK—formerly named Scream Films, …

BARCELONA, July 14: Neptuno Films has secured a range of TV, IPTV, mobile, home video and merchandising deals in the Asia Pacific on key kids’ shows like Danny&Daddy and Dougie in Disguise. In China, via a deal with X-Bell, 300 …

DOHA, July 14: Al Jazeera has resumed plans to set up a bureau in Madrid, a process begun two years ago by journalist Tayseer Allouny, who remains in a Spanish prison after being convicted last year on charges he provided …

LOS ANGELES, July 14: USA Network has acquired the cable television rights to Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest from Buena Vista Television, and has greenlit a pilot that will be executive produced by Lorne Michaels. The Johnny …