World Screen

NEW YORK: The newly created post of COO at Viacom has been filled by Thomas Dooley, formerly the senior executive VP, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer. Dooley will continue to report to Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of …

NEW YORK: Simon Fuller is leading a consortium of investors that has made a bid for CKx, the company that owns 19 Entertainment, which was founded by the American Idol creator. In addition to 19—which it acquired from Fuller in …

LOS ANGELES: The season finale of American Idol on Wednesday night brought in 24.2 million total viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen figures, representing the lowest-rated closing for the series since its first run. The night’s average of 24.2 million viewers …

NEW YORK: Syfy has greenlit three new series, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen, Paranormal Witness and Face Off, which build upon the channel’s expansion of reality programming. Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen (working title) features molecular gastronomist Marcel Vigneron (Top Chef). In each episode, …

LOS ANGELES: Moonscoop has secured a licensing deal with Mattel for the new action-oriented Wild Grinders, created by Rob Dyrdek. Mattel plans to develop, create and market a new line of action figures surrounding the property for a fall 2010 …

SAN DIEGO: Suzy’s Zoo Studios has wrapped up a non-exclusive publishing deal with Dalmation Press for the brands Suzy’s Zoo, Little Suzy’s Zoo and Wags and Whiskers. Countries covered under the new agreement are the U.S. and its territories and …

MONTREAL: The Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) has presented seven Awards of Excellence for the best Canadian French-language children’s and youth programming, with the grand prize going to Le printemps de Mélie. Le printemps de Mélie aired on Radio-Canada …

WARSAW/LONDON: MTV Networks International (MTVNI) is launching the music and kids’ channel MTVNHD in Malta on June 1, along with growing the network’s existing distribution in Switzerland and Poland. MTVNHD is joined Malta’s Melita. Swiss cable operator Cablecom is adding the …

LOS ANGELES/LONDON: Endemol USA has set up an office in New York City, and has added to its development team at the new hub as well as in Los Angeles. The new NYC post will focus on the cable space. This …

NEW YORK: Chef Rocco Dispirito has teamed up with Bravo for the development of a weekly cooking competition series, Rocco’s Dinner Party. The series will watch DiSpirito size up some of the country’s most promising aspiring chefs. DiSpirito will first …