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SINGAPORE: Vikram Channa, the VP of content for Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, will be taking up a new role as VP of programming for India and head of production for Asia Pacific. Channa will be based out of the company’s New …

MUNICH: The Pillars of the Earth, a Tandem Communications and Muse Entertainment production in association with Scott Free Films, will be headlined by such actors as Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland and Rufus Sewell.  The eight-hour limited series will start shooting …

ANNECY: Singapore’s Scrawl Studios is teaming with France’s Planet Nemo for Paranormalia, a 2-D animated adventure comedy for kids aged 8 to 12. Scrawl Studios and Planet Nemo previously worked together on Silly Bitty Bunny. The 52×11-minute Paranormalia follows Hunter, a timid wolf who is transformed …

BANFF: Family Channel and Playhouse Disney in Canada have commissioned six new and returning Canadian original productions, including the half-hour comedy Baxter from Shaftesbury Films.    Baxter is among the new comedies for Family Channel, alongside Angel on Campus from …

TOKYO: Takeshi Harada has been named managing director of Geneon Universal Entertainment (GUE) in Japan, which is majority owned by Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE), effective immediately. UPIE acquired a 80.1-percent majority stake in Geneon Entertainment in 2008, with Dentsu retaining a …

BANFF: HBO’s John Adams picked up the Grand Jury Prize at the Banff World Television Awards and was named Best Drama, while the Best Entertainment nod went to Food Network Canada’s Family Restaurant: The Quons. Other winners included Passage, produced for BBC Scotland, which …

TORONTO: Gwen McCauley has joined Cookie Jar Entertainment as VP of distribution/sales operations for Canada after 11 years at BBC Worldwide Canada. Based in Cookie Jar’s Toronto headquarters, McCauley will develop and distribute programming that fits with Cookie Jar’s brand and broadcaster needs. …

SÃO PAULO: Globo TV International has closed a deal with Rutavi 2 of Georgia to broadcast the telenovelas The Favorite and Forbidden Desire. The productions are slated to premiere in the second semester of 2009. Globo’s telenovelas Two Faces and …

NEW YORK: Ahead of DISCOP, World Screen has released a special video report on Emerging Markets, focusing on the developing television markets in Asia, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe. To view it, please click here. The report, presented by …

LONDON: ITV Global Entertainment has signed a deal for 50 hours of British and Canadian drama with American Public Television (APT). The package includes Murdoch Mysteries, produced by Shaftesbury Productions, as well as the eighth season of the medical drama …