World Screen

NASHVILLE: The Documentary Channel (DOC) has slated four football-oriented documentaries to air each Friday night in August as a prime-time event. The films are schedule to air Fridays at 8:30 p.m., immediately following the network’s original series DocTalk. The Football …

NEW YORK/LONDON/BARCELONA: 41 Entertainment (41e) has taken on the worldwide distribution rights, excluding Spain, for the new animated property Sally McKay. The 26×24-minute series is directed by Eric Robert and produced by Pedro Rico García at TOONF, with Televisión Española …

TORONTO: Portfolio Entertainment has announced the top eight finalists for the In Toon with Tweens animation contest, selected from a pool of 72 entries based on the projects’ creativity and marketability. The finalists are Jeff Young-Sterling and Ai Rei Dooh …

NEW YORK: TNT drew a whopping 7.6 million viewers to its Monday night premiere of Rizzoli & Isles, the latest in a string of ratings successes for the cable networks this summer. Monday night’s premiere of the Angie Harmon and Sasha …

TORONTO: Production is under way on 13 new episodes of the live-action comedy series Wingin’ It, following a successful first run on Family Channel. The series, produced by Temple Street Productions, follows an unlikely teenage odd couple of an angel-in-training …

LONDON/NEW YORK: Babelgum has signed comedian Michael Showalter to an exclusive partnership for a new four-part series, Michael Showalter presents the Making Of. The series will look at how some of the most popular TV commercials were created, spotlighting behind-the-scenes …

LONDON: Endemol has secured new agreements for its global format 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow, which has deals in place in the U.K., Brazil, Turkey and the U.S. Endemol Germany has been commissioned to produce a 90-minute prime-time special …

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A host of pay-TV operators, including Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and DIRECTV, together with several consumer groups, have formed a coalition to battle against broadcaster blackouts during retransmission fee disputes. The American Television Alliance (ATVA) consists of …

LONDON: Andrew Davenport, the creator, writer and composer of the popular children’s show In the Night Garden and co-creator and writer of the global hit Teletubbies, has been slated as a keynote speaker for this year’s Brand Licensing Europe. Teletubbies …

LONDON: In its annual report on the public-service broadcasters BBC, ITV1, Channel 4, Five and S4C, Ofcom has found that spending on first-run, U.K.-originated content fell by 6 percent between 2008 and 2009, with an overall decline of 16 percent …