World Screen

LOS ANGELES: Marking an aggressive move into the social gaming space, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom for $563.2 million. The deal will allow Disney to bring its characters into the world of online social gaming, one …

LOS ANGELES: ABC’s president of entertainment, Stephen McPherson, has resigned from the company after a six-year tenure. The Disney/ABC Television Group issued a brief statement regarding McPherson’s exit: "Steve McPherson today submitted his resignation as President, ABC Entertainment Group, and …

PARIS/SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER: Reed MIDEM has selected Jon Feltheimer, the co-chairman and CEO of Lionsgate, as the MIPCOM 2010 Personality of the Year. Feltheimer is being recognized for his leadership at Lionsgate and for driving creative productions and developing award-winning TV programs, …

PRAGUE: Revenues at Central European Media Enterprises (CME) were up 10.3 percent to $201.7 million for the second quarter. OIBDA for the quarter was relatively flat, increasing 1 percent to $46.2 million. Operating income was down 12 percent, from $3.3 …

PHILADELPHIA: Comcast Corporation reported an 8.6-percent drop in its second-quarter earnings, due in part to costs from its pending takeover of NBC Universal, though the company did post improvement in both sales and subscribers. Comcast reported a net profit of …

  NEW YORK: Kenneth Locker, the senior VP of digital media at Cookie Jar Entertainment, talks about plans for the new online destination Jaroo.com in this video interview. Jaroo.com is an online destination from Cookie Jar Entertainment that features full-length …

ATLANTA: Rob O’Neill is to fill the newly created post of VP of program scheduling at Cartoon Network. O’Neill’s responsibilities will include supervising the day-to-day on-air program scheduling of both Cartoon Network and Boomerang. He also will serve as departmental …

SINGAPORE/LONDON: Deepak Shourie has been named the director for BBC Worldwide Channels in South Asia, to be based in New Delhi. Shourie will lead the management for the channels in the region. Shourie joins the company from a seven-year stint …

SILVER SPRING: Former ITV exec Lee Bartlett is joining Discovery Communications as executive VP of global production management for business and legal affairs, while Bruce Campbell has been promoted within the company to chief development officer and general counsel. Previously, at …

LONDON: KidsCo is to go live this month in Portugal on Vodafone’s Casa TV. The channel will air shows such as The Wiggles, Fat Dog Mendoza, Dino Squad and Rescue Heroes as well as original content such as Boo & …