Top Stories

LONDON: British media regulator Ofcom reports that the World Cup is driving an increase in HDTV sales, which topped 24 million in the U.K. by the end of March 2010. With the tournament kicking off in South Africa tomorrow, Ofcom …

LONDON: Sky1 HD has signed up dance expert Louie Spence, who is at the center of the series Pineapple Dance Studios, for an exclusive talent deal. Sky1 HD will be announcing details of Louie’s forthcoming projects shortly. Celia Taylor, the head …

LONDON/LUCERNCE: The nominees for the 2010 Rose d’Or competition have been announced, with the U.K. notching up the most nods, 48, followed by Germany in a far second, with 9. Canada had seven nominations, while the Netherlands scored six, Spain …

HYDERABAD/MUMBAI: Turner International India is on board for two sequels to DQ Entertainment’s animated feature Balkand, which premiered on POGO last year. This is the latest addition to Turner’s broadening slate of local animation—the broadcast group has acquired or produced 40 …

STOCKHOLM: Modern Times Group’s Viasat Broadcasting is set to launch a sports-focused, male-targeted channel in Sweden this September. TV10 launches September 7 and will reach more than 50 percent of Swedish homes at launch, via Com Hem and Viasat’s own …

LAS VEGAS: Spin Master and Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) have entered into an exclusive partnership, which gives the cable network’s consumer products division all global licensing and merchandising rights for the toy maker’s portfolio of brands. CNE will build consumer …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide Channels and CANAL+ Cyfrowy have signed a carriage deal for the high-definition network BBC HD to be available immediately to subscribers of CYFRA+. BBC HD is now available as part of the Prestizowy HD+ tier and the HD Mix …

LOS ANGELES: Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Sports en Español have retained the exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to Italy’s soccer league Serie A for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. The renewal agreement was secured through MP & …

LONDON: Outright Distribution has sold the U.S. version of Wall to Wall’s original format Who Do You Think You Are? to a number of Scandinavian countries. Sweden’s SVT, Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Iceland’s 365 and Finland’s MTV3 have all signed …

LAS VEGAS: FremantleMedia is working with Australia Zoo and the family of late wildlife personality Steve Irwin on new television and licensing properties. FremantleMedia will partner with Australia Zoo—established by the Irwin family in 1970 and taken over by Steve and Terri …