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LONDON, October 1: BBC Worldwide Channels has expanded the reach of its portfolio in Europe, inking a deal to launch the bouquet on the Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from early December 2008. The carriage deal includes the European debut …

LONDON/BURBANK, October 1: Warner Bros. International Television Distribution has licensed The Mentalist, which opened to 15.6 million viewers on CBS last week, to Five in the U.K. Five has picked up the 13×1-hour series for its flagship channel as well …

LOS GATOS/ENGLEWOOD, October 1: Starz Entertainment has reached a deal to make some 2,500 movies, TV shows and concert specials available for instant online streaming by Netflix subscribers. Access to the Starz Play broadband subscription movie service will be made …

LOS ANGELES, October 1: The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), on behalf of the major Hollywood studios, has filed suit to prevent RealNetworks from distributing its RealDVD software, which the MPAA maintains allows the illegal duplication of movies. The …

CHICAGO, October 1: U.S. media and entertainment companies have “generally healthy” liquidity, according to research from Fitch Ratings, with media conglomerates like Disney and News Corp. positioned well to weather the current financial crisis. Fitch notes that Disney, News Corp., …

SEOUL, September 30: Animation producer and distributor Iconix Entertainment has sold its new preschool property Chiro to Five’s Milkshake! in the U.K. for a November launch. The series premiered on Seoul terrestrial public broadcaster Educational Broadcasting System. Five has commissioned …

TORONTO/LONDON, September 30: DECODE Enterprises has sold Halifax Film’s preschool series Bo on the GO! to CITV in the U.K. while also securing two licensing and merchandising deals. The series has recently been commissioned for a third season by CBC …

HELSINKI/OSLO, September 30: NordicWorld has signed a deal to distribute programs from Finnish broadcaster YLE starting at MIPCOM. Ingegerd Pesonen, YLE’s head of programming, fact and culture, said: “YLE chose NordicWorld as our distributor, due to the importance to us …

NEW YORK, September 30: Bravo has acquired the exclusive cable rights for the original 13-episode run of the drama series Swingtown, from CBS Television Distribution, to be aired later this fall. Swingtown traces two generations of friends and neighbors as …

WASHINGTON, DC, September 30: National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) has commissioned Consecuencias: Latin America Uncovered, its first program produced entirely in Spanish. Produced by FOXTelecolombia, the four-part show is hosted by journalist, author and scholar Alvaro Vargas Llosa and will …