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STOCKHOLM/MOSCOW, May 19: Zodiak Television, through its Russian subsidiary, TeleAlliance, has launched a new branch in Belarus, its 13th market, which will focus on production and licensing opportunities in the country. The branch will be run by Zodiak Vostok in …

LONDON, May 19: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) will head to this year’s DISCOP with a diverse catalogue, spanning genres such as reality, drama and travel. Oprah’s Big Give is a highlight of FME’s reality offerings. The 8×1-hour program features Oprah Winfrey …

LOS ANGELES, May 19: PorchLight Entertainment will be presenting a broad slate of kids’ properties at the Licensing International Expo 2008, ranging from the new animated series FARMkids, Animalia and Gofrette to established brands like Jay Jay the Jet Plane. …

MUMBAI, May 19: TinselVision, an online VOD channel featuring Indian and Bollywood entertainment content, will include titles from the UTV catalogue as part of its offerings. Films such as Swades, Chup Chup Ke, Life in a Metro and Taxi No. …

HENDERSONVILLE, May 19: BlueHighways TV (BHTV), a multiplatform network that explores the people, stories, traditions and music of America, has inked a multi-year distribution agreement that will make its linear and VOD services available to Comcast Cable subscribers. BHTV programming …

LAS VEGAS/SANTA FE, May 19: New Mexico-based Zia Film Distribution has signed an agreement to represent the worldwide rights to Popovich: Comedy Pet Theater, a series featuring Russian-born Gregory Popovich, a runner-up on NBC’s America’s Got Talent last year. As …

REDMOND, May 19: Microsoft, which recently relinquished its Yahoo! takeover efforts, has proposed an alternative arrangement to the search engine giant, which is facing the risk of a shareholder revolt led by financier Carl Icahn. Last week, Icahn notified Yahoo! …

NEW YORK, May 16: Ahead of the finale of FOX’s American Idol next week, The Nielsen Company has released data trends about the hit reality talent competition show and its contestants, with the 35-to-49 demographic comprising nearly 29 percent of …

MUNICH/LONDON, May 16: TV-Loonland has reached a deal to sell off a 50.1-percent stake in U.K.-based film distributor Metrodome Group to Romania’s MediaPro Management. MediaPro is purchasing the 50.1-percent stake from TV-Loonland’s existing 61.7-percent holding for 2.62 pence per share. …

CANNES/HONG KONG, May 16: The Weinstein Company (TWC) has signed an exclusive five-year pan-Asian pay-TV output deal with News Corporation’s STAR that will make a range of films available on STAR Movies. TWC films available on STAR Movies include 1408, …