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SYDNEY, September 19: Beyond has been named the worldwide distributor of two documentaries from Open Door: Independent America: The Two Lane Search For Mom and Pop and Cracked Not Broken, for launch at MIPCOM. The 81×52-minute Independent America: The Two …

NEW YORK/OAKDALE, September 19: Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products and Imation have partnered to roll out Nickelodeon’s Npower brand, a new consumer-electronics product line for kids. The Npower brand features more than 20 products including digital cameras and photo frames, …

NEW YORK, September 18: VOOM HD Networks has acquired three new programs for premiere on its kids- and family-targeted channels Family Room HD and Animania HD: RenegadePress.com, Animal Atlas, and Katakune. The 28×30-minute RenegadePress.com, acquired from FilmOption International, premiered on …

MOSCOW, September 18: Russia’s Central Partnership has bagged its first deal in the U.K. with the sale of three movies to Dolphin Television’s Movies4Men Channels. Titles include Shadowboxing, one of Russia’s biggest box-office grossing films of 2005; Moscow Mission, an …

NEW YORK, September 18: Through an exclusive partnership, IFC will produce an original series of interstitials, Beyond the Multiplex, based on Salon.com’s arts and entertainment column of the same name. The series of two-to-three minute interstitials will feature conversations between …

TORONTO, September 18: Mary Powers, CTVglobemedia’s senior VP of corporate communications, has left her current position to launch her own strategic communications and brand marketing company, Powers Communications, with CTVglobemedia as her lead client. In this new role, Powers will …

LONDON, September 18: A new Screen Digest study examining the evolution of the high-definition video market predicts that both Sony’s Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats will be able to establish a viable installed customer base in the future, and …

LOS ANGELES, September 18: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) will launch its first wholly-owned channel in the U.S., MGM HD, featuring classic and contemporary films in high definition, on DIRECTV this fall. The MGM channel is currently available in nearly 120 countries …

MADRID/LONDON, September 18: Apple has granted the Telefonica-owned mobile phone operator O2 the exclusive contract to sell the iPhone in the U.K., starting from November 9. It has not yet been announced on what terms O2 won the contract, according …

SYDNEY: Private-equity firm Navis Media plans to acquire Beyond International in a deal that values the Australian production-and-distribution company at A$74.6 million ($62.5 million). The proposed takeover will be submitted to Beyond’s shareholders for approval in November. The company’s chief …