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MUNICH: Christine Brand has been upped to managing director of MGM Networks (Deutschland), and will be tasked with oversight of day-to-day affairs for channel operations in Germany and German-speaking markets in Europe. She will be responsible for programming, marketing, sales …

LONDON: In a speech in Manchester, the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, addressed the issues of accountability and disclosure, announcing his "intention to open up the BBC further," beginning with the release of the expenses of the pubcaster’s top executives. …

MOSCOW: Alexander Rodnyansky is stepping down as the president of Russian broadcaster CTC Media, effective August 1, but will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. Peter Aven, the co-chairman of the Board of Directors, commented, “As …

NEW YORK: Survivor: Samoa is receiving a pre-season debut on CBS, ahead of premiere week shows such as Accidentally on Purpose and CSI: Miami, which kick off September 21. The 19th installment of the reality series Survivor will debut on September 17 at 8 p.m., a week …

ATLANTA: The PGA of America and Turner Sports have extended their broadcasting and interactive media agreements, which cover the PGA Championship, PGA Grand Slam of Golf and PGA.com, through 2019. The new agreement will see Turner’s Cartoon Network Enterprises serving …

LOS ANGELES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has doubled the number of films vying for the Best Picture category to ten for next year’s Academy Awards, slated for March 7, 2010 and airing live on ABC. The Academy’s …

  ATHENS: The Greek edition of ShineReveille’s The Moment of Truth format, broadcast on Antenna, has been banned, with regulators arguing that the series is offensive and encourages participants to "humiliate themselves for a reward."   The format has been sold for …

NEW YORK/LONDON: Babelgum and Dig For Fire are launching an exclusive original music series, Road Trippin’ with Ice Cream Man, an alternative spin on the all-American-road-trip featuring music news from summer festivals across the U.S. Matt Allen, known as Ice …

PARIS: The FRANCE 24-RFI Web Documentary Award, presented in association with the 21st international photojournalism festival Visa pour l’Image, will recognize the best journalistic approach using multimedia resources and an original angle on the news. The winner will receive a …

LONDON/MUMBAI: Viacom’s joint-venture Hindi general-entertainment channel Colors is set to launch an Indian version of FremantleMedia’s Got Talent format this weekend. India becomes the first country in Asia to localize FremantleMedia’s hit talent format, which recently wrapped a successful run …