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MIAMI: Dori Media Group has reached an agreement for the Spanish brand-management outfit Elastic Rights to handle the rights for the format and finished version of the Argentinean teen series Champs 12 in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Turkey. The …

NEW YORK: New research from MTV Networks has found that a five-second pre-roll combined with a ten-second lower-third ad unit is the most effective and the most audience-friendly ad product for short-form online video. The findings are revealed in Project Inform, …

LONDON: BBC Comedy has commissioned ITV Studios’ comedy division to produce the five-part online series Brian Pern, starring The Fast Show’s Simon Day. Brian Pern is a video-blog style sitcom, centered on a fictional character who was once a flamboyant …

SANTA MONICA: Soap star Antonio Sabato Jr. searches for loves from a pool of 13 women in the new VH1 series My Antonio, premiering August 16. Contestants travel to a Hawaiian paradise to seek out a love connection with the …

NEW YORK: In New York today to meet with DreamWorks Studios’ partners Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, the chairman of India’s Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, announced that there will be an initial $825 million in financing …

LONDON: Fireworks International has sold its the drama series Heartland to British entertainment channel E4, with additional showings available 30 days after broadcast on Channel 4’s on-demand catch-up service, 4oD. Heartland, set against the Alberta Rocky Mountains, is a family …

ROME: The management of Jetix Italy, led by Francesco Nespega, has reached a deal with The Walt Disney Company to take ownership of the channels GXT and K2. GXT is a pay-TV channel, launched in May 2005, skewed towards young males, …

TORONTO: Corus Entertainment is spending C$40 million to acquire the specialty services Drive-In Classics and SexTV from CTVglobemedia.  "These services are currently available in over two million households and provide a great base to grow their audiences and increase their appeal …

NEW YORK: TBS is teaming up with Joe Roth and Ice Cube for the new sitcom Are We There Yet?, based on the hit Revolution Studios film of the same name. Starring Terry Crews of Everybody Hates Chris, Are We …

BARCELONA: U.S. Hispanic broadcaster Telemundo has picked up the rights to Endemol Spain’s serial drama Amar en tiempos revueltos (To Love in Difficult Times). Slated to launch on Telemundo in September, the series has been airing in Spain since 2005 in …