World Screen

LAUSANNE: Grupo Albavision has reached a deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the free-TV rights to the London 2012 Olympic Games in ten Latin American countries. Albavision has secured the broadcast rights for Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican …

STRASBOURG: A new study from the European Audiovisual Observatory indicates that revenues at European’s main commercial broadcasting groups are back to pre-recession levels, with a 10-percent growth rate in the first half. The 12 largest private television groups in Europe …

LOS ANGELES: Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is the focus of a new six-part docu-series on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network called Finding Sarah. Produced by World of Wonder, the series is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011 …

NEW YORK: Overall advertising revenues in the U.S. rose by 5.7 percent in the first six months of the year to reach $63.57 billion, Kantar Media reports, with television adspend up 10 percent. “The rally in ad spending that has emerged …

LOS ANGELES: Rubicon Studios and MGM are re-teaming for a new half-hour animated holiday special based on the iconic Pink Panther character. A Very Pink Christmas will feature the Pink Panther pitted against his arch nemesis, Big Nose, as they …

CENTENNIAL: International Media Distribution has launched the Italian-language TV channel Mediaset Italia in the U.S. to more than 15 million homes. Key prime-time programming includes news, soccer, entertainment and fiction from Mediaset’s Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete. The service …

LONDON: As a further push into the formats arena, Cineflix International has hired Colin Jarvis, former BBC director of international formats, to work with the company as a consultant. Jarvis will be working with Cineflix’s sales and distribution executives, focusing on …

SILVER SPRING: Jocelyn Shearer, formerly with National Geographic, has joined Discovery Studios as its VP of footage sales. Shearer will be responsible for developing and leading a sales team to expand the market share and distribution client base for Discovery’s …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has appointed Mark Smith as the launch director for the proposed Global iPlayer. In this newly created role, Smith will lead the development of the proposed BBC-branded international commercial VOD service. Smith has been serving as acting general …

NEW YORK: The premium entertainment channel Epix has tapped Jill Burkhart to serve as the director of documentary development. Burkhart most recently served as the executive director of the Nantucket Film Festival, which she founded with her brother Jonathan Burkhart …