World Screen

SYDNEY: A key part of the new direction for the FOXTEL Channels Group will be the increased investment in local programming, across entertainment, reality, factual and comedy. The FOXTEL Channels Group includes many of the top offerings on the platform, …

NEW YORK: Cineflix Studios, the recently launched scripted division of Cineflix, has optioned It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me, a pilot script based on a book by Ariel Leve from her popular weekly London Sunday Times Magazine column. …

SINGAPORE: SPE Networks—Asia has added Malaysia to the carriage roster for AXN Beyond. The channel is to launch in Malaysia on August 30, following previous carriage deals in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. AXN Beyond is a spin-off of …

LOS ANGELES/PARIS: The new Africa Media Rights Watch initiative, an anti-piracy body monitoring the region, will officially launch next year at the fifth edition of DISCOP Africa. The initiative is supported by leading broadcasters and content suppliers involved in Sub-Saharan …

TORONTO: Canada’s Family Channel has greenlit three new live-action comedy series for its spring 2011 schedule: Decidedly Debra, Really Me and What’s Up, Warthogs! The 13×30-minute Decidedly Debra is produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment. The series follows a teen with …

NEW YORK: Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney has adapted Lawrence Wright’s one-man play My Trip to al-Qaeda, with the exclusive HBO documentary to air on September 7. The doc chronicles fundamentalist Islam’s rise to power. This comes from a firsthand account …

LONDON/NEW YORK: Cineflix International Distribution has named Sabrina Ayala, former VP of sales and marketing at CABLEready, as its new VP of Latin American and Iberian sales and acquisitions. Ayala joins the company’s New York office as of August 30. …

NEW YORK: Melissa Roper Barnett has been promoted to the role of senior VP of networks business affairs at HBO. Barnett will be responsible for the negotiation of domestic distribution deals for all of HBO’s networks. She will report to …

BUDAPEST: A new distribution deal has been firmed up between SPI International, which operates the FilmBox channels, and Tematik Kábel in Hungary. The agreement includes the channels FilmBox Extra, FilmBox HD and FilmBox Family, as well as the again fully …

VICTORIA/LOS ANGELES: MarVista Entertainment will present at MIP Junior 39 brand-new episodes in a second season of Prank Patrol Australia. For the new season, activeTV will produce a total of 39 half-hours, 13 of which will be entirely original pranks created …