World Screen

PREMIUM: While a number of territories across the Asia Pacific have become adept at creating their own formats, there’s still a healthy appetite in the region for licensing international concepts. Signs of health abound in the television markets across the …

NEW YORK: Universal Cable Productions is to produce an 11-episode original scripted series for Syfy, tentatively titled Alphas, with BermanBraun Television. The action-adventure series comes from writers Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk) and Michael Karnow. …

BURBANK: The Hub has formed an independent advisory board, to be chaired by educational psychologist and TV industry specialist Dr. Helen Boehm. The members of the advisory board will collectively share their knowledge and experience to provide professional advice and …

LONDON: New appointments were made to NBC Universal International’s television production unit, with Alan Brown heading up factual and entertainment and Mario Stylianides leading comedy. As heads of their respective areas, Brown and Stylianides will seek out and develop new TV …

LOS ANGELES: Rive Gauche Television has scored new deals on the reality series Operation Repo and Scare Tactics. Norway’s Viasat opted for Operation Repo, as did TV4 of Sweden and Sony in Africa. Scare Tactics was picked up by Norway’s …

BRISTOL: The documentary One Million Snake Bites has been commissioned by BBC Two in the U.K. and Animal Planet in the U.S. from Icon Films. The doc follows reptile expert and conservationist Romulus Whitaker as he journeys across India, home to …

LONDON: The hit British drama Wild at Heart, which originally aired in the U.K. on ITV1, is to make its Chinese TV premiere on CCTV-8 on the Everyday Jiayi programming block, via a deal secured with ALL3MEDIA International. The show …

LONDON: A new eight-part drama series is in the works for BBC One and France Télévisions, Death in Paradise. The series, from Robert Thorogood, is produced by Red Planet Pictures and Atlantique Productions, in association with BBC Worldwide and Kudos Film …

TOKYO: From April 2011, NHK’s three satellite channels are to be restructured and consolidated into two HD channels, named BS1 and BS Premium. BS1 will center on world affairs and sports. It will offer viewers the latest news from around the …

BURBANK: Disney Television Animation has been given a second-season order for the Disney Channel animated comedy Fish Hooks, along with being tapped by the channel for the new comedy series Gravity Falls. Fish Hooks, led by Noah Z. Jones, is …