Top Stories

MADRID/BURBANK: Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) has signed a deal with laSexta that gives the Spanish broadcaster free-TV rights to a range of first-run theatrical motion pictures and previously released feature films as well as a host of TV titles. …

SILVER SPRING: The newly created role of international head of content for Discovery Communications is to be filled by Luis Silberwasser, who currently serves as senior VP of the content group for Discovery Networks Latin America/U.S. Hispanic and general manager …

HILVERSUM: In continuing its global expansion efforts, John de Mol’s Talpa Media has set up a co-owned joint venture with Portuguese TV producer CBV. The venture will have the exclusive rights to sell, adapt and produce all Talpa formats for …

LONDON: CBS has given a second-season order for Undercover Boss for the 2010-11 broadcast season. The show, a Studio Lambert production distributed by ALL3MEDIA International, follows high-level executives as they anonymously slip into the ranks of their companies. Undercover Boss …

LONDON: LIVING has picked up the comedic drama series Drop Dead Diva from Sony Pictures Television. The series will air in a prime-time slot on LIVING in April. Drop Dead Diva follows a beautiful-yet-vapid model wannabe who has a fatal …

LOS ANGELES: Andy Whitfield, who plays the title role in the Starz original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and shooting on the second season will be postponed to accommodate his treatment. Whitfield will begin …

SILVER SPRING: Verge is an all-new programming block slated for Planet Green’s prime-time grid that will feature the mavericks and innovators who are on the brink of changing the world and creating a better tomorrow. Verge will kick off on …

LOS ANGELES: The Lifetime original movies Patricia Cornwell’s At Risk and Patricia Cornwell’s The Front are to debut on April 10 and April 17, respectively. The films were adapted from Patricia Cornwell’s crime novels. Andie MacDowell stars as Monique Lamont, …

NEW YORK: Brian Greene, the physicist, author and host of the acclaimed NOVA series The Elegant Universe and the upcoming The Fabric of the Cosmos (currently in production), shares his excitement about science in this video interview.   As one …

ABU DHABI: Delivering a speech titled "The Greatest Resource of All" at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit yesterday, News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch called on the Middle East to foster its creative sector and rally against censorship.   Murdoch’s appearance …