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LOS ANGELES: The Patricia Cornwell crime novels At Risk and The Front are being adapted into Lifetime original movies, starring Andie MacDowell, Daniel Sunjata, Diahann Carroll, Annabeth Gish and Ashley Williams. The films mark the first time ever that Cornwell’s …

NEW YORK: For the first time in the U.S., BBC natural-history programming such as The Blue Planet and Walking with Dinosaurs is available for purchase and download from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Zune Marketplace.  Starting today, customers can purchase single …

MONTREAL: Telefilm Canada has selected 56 new-media projects to receive financial support through the product assistance component of the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF). The CNMF is a program that provides funding for private sector entrepreneurs. The national program supports …

PORTLAND: There were 589 million video-on-demand transactions in the U.S. in June, according to Rentrak Corporation, reflecting a 15-percent year-on-year increase. Rentrak, citing data from its OnDemand Essentials service, also reports that there was an average of 16.5 minutes of …

LONDON: Nine channel slots on BSkyB previously occupied by Setanta Sports are being put up for sale, with Canis Media appointed to handle the auction. Setanta Sports shuttered its operations last month, and its administrator, Deloitte, appointed Canis Media to …

BELFAST: Below the Radar has been commissioned by RTÉ and AETN UK to produce Mountbatten: Return to Mullaghmore, recounting the assassination of the Queen’s cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, by the Irish Republican Army. In 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten and his …

LOS ANGELES: TV Guide Network has made its first scripted series acquisition, scoring the basic cable off-network rights to Ugly Betty. The deal with Disney-ABC Domestic Television includes access to existing and future episodes of the popular ABC show, which will …

TORONTO: Canwest has greenlit a half-hour pilot from Gemini Award-winning Canadian comedian Mary Walsh and Shaftesbury Films’ Christina Jennings. Rise Up, created by Walsh, focuses on Siouxie Power, an ex-punk rocker from Newfoundland who wins the lottery and moves her family—husband Spook Sparks, troubled teenage …

LONDON: The newly upgraded consumer websites for History and Military History in the U.K. feature a Brightcove video player and Sky+ remote recording capabilities, among other enhanced services.  Users can view original short-form content via the Brightcove Video Player, including …

LOS ANGELES: Coinciding with the production of the original investigative news series On the Case with Paula Zahn for ID: Investigation Discovery, Scott Sternberg Productions has expanded its operations with the opening of a New York office. Staffed by an …