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LONDON: BBC Worldwide has signed two new licensees to develop and distribute the preschool property 3rd & Bird! into the U.K. toy market.  DanJam is working on a line of wooden toys and MV Sports for wheeled toys, with product …

LONDON: BKN New Media’s Dork Hunters from Outer Space has notched up its highest ratings to date on SABC1 in South Africa, achieving a 50.6 percent audience share.  The show drew in 316,096 viewers between the ages of 6 and …

EL SEGUNDO: Satellite platform DIRECTV has picked up seasons one and two of Showtime’s Sleeper Cell for carriage on The 101 Network as well as on its on-demand service. All 18 episodes of the show, about an FBI agent who infiltrates …

LOS ANGELES/LAS VEGAS: MarVista Entertainment is presenting the new tween reality competition series In the Real World at NATPE.  Produced by Montreal-based Apartment 11 Productions, In the Real World features 18 contestants ages 12 to 14 as they race across …

LAS VEGAS: MTV Networks Latin America, which is showcasing a diverse range of programming at NATPE, has announced a slate of acquisitions from Lionsgate, Beyond Distribution and others, for broadcast on MTV and VH1 in the region. "We continue to build MTV …

LAS VEGAS: MGM Domestic Television and Weigel Broadcasting have passed the 60-percent clearance mark on their new digital TV service for local stations, delivering movies and TV series from the MGM library. Key stations from Tribune Broadcasting Company have signed up as …

TORONTO: Canadian producer marblemedia has secured a second-season commission from TVO for the kids’ cooking series Taste Buds, whose hosts are in Las Vegas today to take part in the Celebrity Chef Kitchen event on the NATPE floor. The second season, with …

LOS ANGELES: Bennett Media Worldwide has taken on the distribution rights to more than 200 hours of content from Australia’s Oscorp Entertainment. The deal brings the Bennett Media Worldwide program offering to more than 500 hours, which are being showcased …

LOS ANGELES: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has ousted its chief negotiator and national executive director, Doug Allen, and has split the position into two separate posts. Former Guild general counsel David White takes over as interim national executive director, while longtime Guild …

COPENHAGEN: The Scandinavian outfit Media Entertainment Group has inked co-production deals on two non-verbal comedy shorts that are being launched at NATPE this week. MEG is working with Munich-based Anaconda and its CEO, Matthias Lang, on Bluffing, a series of hidden …