Top Stories

LOS ANGELES: Howie Mandel’s Alevy Productions and Angel City Factory, a member of the Banijay Group, are teaming up to bring the comedy format Celebrity Stand-Up, which debuts today in Denmark, to the U.S. The concept sees celebrities create an …

SAN DIEGO: Ben Silverman’s Electus and publisher BOOM! Studios have teamed up for the original graphic-novel series Fanboys vs. Zombies, being launched at this year’s Comic-Con International. The graphic novels follow a group of friends who are making their annual …

PARIS: TF1 has firmed up an agreement with Sony Pictures Television for the studio’s series, TV movies and feature films to air across the French group’s channels. The deal also covers rights for new-media distribution. Through this agreement, films such …

SYDNEY: A second season of the travel-adventure reality series The Amazing Race Australia has been commissioned by Seven Network. The multi-Emmy Award-winning series is a Disney format produced in conjunction with Active TV. There are currently three episodes remaining until …

NEW YORK: A fourth season of Merlin is headed to Syfy for a 2012 premiere via a deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME). With its third season, Merlin averaged 1.93 million total viewers. This marks a gain of 12 percent on …

HERTFORDSHIRE: Parthenon Entertainment has sold 80 hours of programming to leading free-TV broadcasters in Scandinavia, including Norway’s NRK. TV10 in Sweden picked up 65 hours of blue-chip science and history series, including the 13×1-hour Sports Science, which tests top athletes …

SINGAPORE: The Outdoor Channel Asia has secured a partnership with the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship (ISC) and the Asian Surfing Championship (ASC) to air the competitive events throughout the Asia-Pacific region. As a result of the deal, the Outdoor Channel …

SILVER SPRING: Investigation Discovery has added its first docu-series, Big Law: Deputy Butterbean, starring Eric “Butterbean” Esch, a 400-pound former heavyweight boxer who joins the Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit in Jasper, Alabama, to its lineup. The ten-part series will premiere Tuesday, …

SILVER SPRING, July 18: Discovery Channel has upped Dolores Gavin to senior VP of development and production from the VP position. Gavin is based at the Silver Spring headquarters and will be tasked with overseeing development and production strategy. She …

LOS ANGELES: A number of new appointments have been made within MGM’s TV department, including Vinicio Espinosa being named VP for Latin American television distribution. Espinosa joins MGM as the VP for Latin American television distribution. Espinosa will oversee the …