Top Stories

LONDON: Virgin1 has commissioned a second season of the observational docuseries Sun, Sea and A&E from October Films. The vacation destination of Spanish isle Mallorca is put in the spotlight once again. With unprecedented access to the Spanish hospitals, doctors …

TORONTO: Starz Animation Toronto will animate the Christmas story Yes, Virginia for a half-hour holiday special, presented by Macy’s, to air on CBS on December 11.  The CG animation studio is producing the animation for the TV feature in conjunction …

LOS ANGELES: Carolina Lightcap has been named president of Disney Channels Worldwide, replacing Rich Ross, who left in October to head up the company’s movie studio. Lightcap joined The Walt Disney Company in 2000 and most recently served in the dual …

HILVERSUM: Telescreen has acquired the exclusive worldwide distribution rights for the new animated series Conni from youngfilms, excluding German-speaking Europe, Spain, Portugal and Latin America.  Telescreen now holds rights to the 26×12-minute production across broadcasting, home entertainment, VOD, Internet, mobile, audio …

LONDON: 4Kids Entertainment has named France Télévisions Distribution as licensing agent for the preschool brand WordWorld in France. The series centers on a group of WordFriends—Dog, Duck, Ant, Bear, Frog, Sheep and Pig—who live in WordWorld and together they learn …

OTTAWA: Knight Enterprises is partnering with Calgary-based producer Nancy Laing, the president of Earth to Sky Pictures, for the recently announced TV movie based on the life of Canadian mountie Sir Samuel Benfield Steele. The Sam Steele project is being …

TORONTO: Cookie Jar has appointed Famosa as the exclusive toy licensee for Caillou in Mexico. Famosa’s range includes products such as 36cm figures, plush dolls, bath toys, a toy farm, vehicles and toy trains. They are now available at major retail outlets …

NEW YORK: WorldScreen.com is providing readers with an ATF preview site, ATF.WorldScreen.com, delivering a video report on the Asian television market, a feature on novelas in Asia, an article on selling into the region, interviews with MediaCorp’s Chang Long Jong and Disney-ABC’s Rob …

HARRINGTON PARK: Nicola McAllister has been appointed as a sales executive at Janson Media, where she will be responsible for TV and VOD markets in Eastern Europe.  Previously, McAllister worked as a sales exec for Network Ireland Television for six years before …

LOS ANGELES: Roku is opening access to its Internet set-top device to third-party content providers, adding 10 partners to its "Channel Store" this week, among them Facebook and Pandora.  The Roku Channel store now features 10 new free channels: Blip.tv, …