Top Stories

LOS ANGELES: Third-quarter home-entertainment spending in the U.S. was up 5 percent, marking the first increase in figures since 2008’s first quarter, according to a new report from Digital Entertainment Group. Total spending in the U.S. on home entertainment reached …

LOS ANGELES: FX has placed a second-season order for 13 new episodes of the Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk series American Horror Story. From Twentieth Century Fox Television, American Horror Story is off to a solid start for the network, …

LOS ANGELES: FOX’s Animation Domination lineup is to include an additional nine episodes of Bob’s Burgers, set to premiere in midseason. Bob’s Burgers, a Twentieth Century Fox Television production, follows a third-generation restauranteur as he runs his own burger joint, …

LONDON/DUBAI: Production is to start on Middle Eastern versions of the hit game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, following Sony Pictures Television’s SPT Arabia securing its first non-scripted format deals in the region. SPT Arabia will produce 240 half-hour …

TEL AVIV: NBC is to launch Who’s Still Standing?, the U.S. version of the Armoza Formats game show Still Standing, with a week-long strip of new episodes from December 19 to December 22, taking a regular broadcast slot from December …

LOS ANGELES/MIAMI: Univision is partnering with Scott Sternberg Productions (SSP) for the worldwide distribution of the reality series Nuestra Belleza Latina (Our Latin Beauty). Nuestra Belleza Latina, currently in its sixth season, is the first format originated and produced internally …

HONG KONG: Jana Bennett, the president of worldwide networks and global BBC iPlayer at the BBC, is to appear at CASBAA’s opening session tomorrow to discuss plans to launch BBC-branded channels in Thailand in early 2012. Bennett, who joined BBC …

MIAMI: Dori Media Group (DMG) has sold the formats for its telenovelas Mannequins and Amanda O to Idea Asia Media, which is currently developing adaptations for the Chinese market. The cross-platform telenovela Amanda O was produced by Dori Media Contenidos …

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG: Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP) and Novus Media Solutions, a Singapore-based custom publishing specialist, have partnered to relaunch the award-winning Discovery Channel Magazine in the Asia Pacific beginning today. The magazine, which will be published monthly, has a new …

STOCKHOLM: Viasat Broadcasting has signed a five-year exclusive agreement with Russia’s CTC Media to distribute the international version of the CTC channel in the Baltic territories. CTC-International will be made available from today to Viasat subscribers in Estonia, Latvia and …