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HOLLYWOOD: Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) has extended its trial license program with DVD kiosk operator Redbox through at least June 30, 2010, bringing customers new-release titles such as Up in the Air and The Lovely Bones. Redbox and PHE signed …

NEW YORK: Advertising spending on cable TV was up 9.1 percent in the U.S. for the first three quarters of 2009, according to Nielsen.  Spanish-language cable also saw positive gains, up 36.7 percent. Overall, spending on advertising fell 11.5 percent. Compared to the same …

NEW YORK: Jeff Zucker, who was recently named CEO of the new Comcast/GE joint venture, has signed a three-year contract with NBC Universal to stay on through 2013, according to reports.  Last week, Comcast and GE formally announced their agreement …

TORONTO: GlobalTV.com and CTV.ca are both reporting strong numbers for online viewing in Canada. According to comScore reports, CTV.ca averaged 644,961 unique video viewers per month in 2009, while GlobalTV.com averaged 270,280. To date, in 2009, CTV.ca has enjoyed 60.1 million …

NEW YORK: Anthea Disney, the executive VP of content at News Corporation, is leaving the company after 20 years, retiring at the end of the month.  Upon her retirement, Disney plans to counsel young female entrepreneurs through a non-profit she recently …

PARIS: YouTube has signed a multi-territory deal with SportAccord, a representative of institutional sport federations worldwide, to create Sports Hub, featuring more than 2,000 videos from a large variety of sports. Set to launch in spring, Sports Hub will feature …

LONDON: ITV is to make the drama The Vampire Diaries available on the iTunes Store months before its debut on British television. The show is scheduled to launch on ITV2 in February, but is available through the ITV2 area on …

TORONTO: Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and Canwest have selected 11 projects to receive a total of C$279,500 in grants and no-interest loans from the Canwest-Hot Docs Funds.  The funds consist of a C$3 million completion fund and a …

BOCA RATON: Penthouse is rolling out its HD adult channels in Europe, scoring its first German launch, on the Kabel BW platform. Kabel BW, which has more than 2.3 million customers, is the first German platform to launch Penthouse HD. …

TORONTO: A second season of Healthy Gourmet, from Kaleidoscope Entertainment, is set for VIVA, and is looking for groups of people who enjoy cooking and eating together. Filming is set to begin in February, continuing through June, in Ontario. Healthy …