Kristin Brzoznowski

Global digital penetration reached 74.6 percent at the end of 2015, according to the latest edition of the Digital TV World Databook. About 584 million digital TV homes were added in 138 countries between 2010 and 2015. This doubled the digital TV household total to 1.17 billion.

EDINBURGH: Shane Smith, founder and CEO of VICE Media, will deliver this year’s James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

NEW YORK/LONDON: Danny Cohen, formerly the director of BBC Television, has been tapped to launch Access Entertainment, a brand-new division of Len Blavatnik's Access Industries that will focus on investments across the entertainment sector.

LOS ANGELES: More than 400 buyers from 49 territories are registered to attend the upcoming NATPE Budapest, which has unveiled its lineup of sessions for the June event.

BURBANK: The Walt Disney Company posted higher second-quarter earnings, despite feeling an impact from lower ad revenues at ESPN and A&E.

SEATTLE: Amazon Video Direct (AVD) is a brand-new self-service program for creators and storytellers that allows them to make their video content available to Amazon customers, including Prime members.

NEW YORK: Watch clips and access detailed information on numerous new shows by visiting WorldScreenings.com's Screening Rooms for the L.A. Screenings as well as the Spanish-language video portal TVLatinaScreenings.tv.

BEVERLY HILLS: Netflix is planning the first-ever global on-demand competition series, Ultimate Beastmaster, featuring and produced by Sylvester Stallone (Creed, Grudge Match) and producer Dave Broome (The Biggest Loser, Strong).

STOCKHOLM: MTG World has been rebranded as Viasat World, which encompasses 27 pay-TV channels in 47 countries across Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS, Turkey, Africa, Israel and the U.S.

NEW YORK: Prentiss Fraser, the senior VP, global head of content sales at FOX, recently met with World Screen Newsflash to discuss the strength of Turkish dramas in the international market and the focus for the sales business in the coming months.