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NEW YORK: Australia’s Network Ten, CITV in the U.K. and RTL2 in Germany are among the latest round of deals on 4Kids Entertainment’s Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Also on board for season one of the show are AB Group in France, Mediaset in Italy, …

BURBANK: As part of its efforts to expand into prime-time programming, Cookie Jar Entertainment has become the North American licensing agent and programming distributor for Lucha Libre USA and the Lucha Libre AAA league. Lucha Libre is a sensation in Mexico and …

STAMFORD: Former NFL executive Jim Connelly is joining World Wrestling Entertainment as senior VP of consumer products, overseeing the global licensing, home entertainment, book and magazine publishing businesses. In his new post, Connelly reports directly to WWE’s COO, Donna Goldsmith. He previously spent 25 …

LOS ANGELES: Satellite TV giant DIRECTV has added Jewish Life Television (JLTV), billed as the first 24-hour Jewish-themed television channel in the U.S., to its lineup. “JLTV is proud of its new partnership with DIRECTV," said Phil Blazer, the president and CEO …

LONDON: Andrew Jackson, currently the managing director of Tigress, has been tapped to succeed Neil Nightingale as the head of the BBC’s acclaimed Natural History Unit. Jackson takes over from Nightingale, who is stepping down from six years in the …

SILVER SPRING: TLC has tapped Steve Cheskin to fill the newly created role of executive VP of programming, where he will lead scheduling efforts and program development. Effective tomorrow, the role sees Cheskin reporting directly to Eileen O’Neill, TLC’s president …

LONDON: Lisa Opie, formerly managing director of content at Five, has been appointed to lead the growth of Twofour’s online broadcasting platform, MediaFreedom, as a consultant. Lisa Opie will serve as an external consultant to work on the continued development of …

LONDON: Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America are all expected to see their ad markets rebound in 2010, according to new research from ZenithOptimedia, with North America and Western Europe to follow in 2011. The firm downgraded its …

HAMILTON: Ukrainian tycoon Igor Kolomoisky has made a $100-million investment in Central European Media Enterprises (CME) and is merging his TET TV station into CME’s Studio 1+1 Group. With the transactions, expected to close by the end of Q3, Kolomoisky becomes a 49-percent …

SINGAPORE: Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP) is introducing the Investigation Discovery (ID) brand to Asian audiences as a block on the Discovery Channel, beginning today in Taiwan. The branded block, with programming that focuses on the science of forensics and its use …