Top Stories

LONDON, October 20: Time Warner has increased is ownership stake in U.K.-based game publisher SCi Entertainment—home to the Lara Croft franchise—to 16.1 percent. SCi says that Time Warner purchased an additional 5 million shares, bringing its holding to 42.5 million …

NEW YORK, October 20: While conceding that News Corporation will be “tested” in these challenging economic times, chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has projected “solid profitability” for the year ahead, thanks to the global reach of the company’s assets. Speaking …

NEW YORK, October 20: NBC Universal is looking to trim $500 million from its 2009 budget, reports indicate, with president and CEO Jeff Zucker telling employees in a memo: “We are living in a time of unprecedented economic challenges.” The …

NEW YORK/LONDON, October 20: Gideon Bierer has been promoted to executive VP of digital media for MTV Networks International (MTVNI), an expanded role that sees him taking on responsibility for all online and mobile properties. Continuing to report to Bob …

NEW YORK, October 20: Tom Calderone, who has been the executive VP and general manager of VH1 since 2005, will now serve as the company’s president, managing a portfolio that includes VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1.com and all brand …

LOS ANGELES, October 20: Sir David Frost and his production company, David Paradine Television, have signed over the North American distribution rights for the entire broadcast footage of the historical Frost/Nixon TV interviews from 1977 to Liberation Entertainment. The interviews …

LONDON, October 20: Through its deal with Story House Productions, Parthenon has added two crime titles to its catalogue: Real Interrogations and The Real NCIS. Real Interrogations looks at real criminals and the interrogators who try to break them. The …

MOSCOW, October 20: JimJam, the global preschool channel formed by HIT Entertainment and Chellomedia, has been added to the offerings of Russian satellite platform NTV-Plus, following the network’s recent launch in the region of Akado. The launch on NTV-Plus will …

LONDON, October 20: BBC Worldwide has sold the hit format What Not to Wear to Italy’s Magnolia to produce a local version of 13 hour-long episodes for the Discovery Real Time Channel under the title Ma come ti vesti?!, which …

SINGAPORE, October 17: SingTel’s mio TV is launching a new Chinese-language outlet, Mei Ah Drama Channel, which is dedicated to drama series from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Mei Ah Drama is the first 24-hour drama channel …