Top Stories

LONDON/NEW YORK, August 27: Press reports indicate that NBC Universal is close to clinching a deal to acquire Sparrowhawk Media, which operates the Hallmark Channels outside of the U.S., for about $350 million. Sparrowhawk is owned by private equity firms …

LOS ANGELES, August 27: Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of Comedy Central’s hit animated series South Park, have concluded a new deal with the cable channel that extends the run of the show, creates a new digital animation …

NEW YORK, August 27: The Nielsen Company has announced that beginning today, it will produce all national ratings for Spanish-language television through its National People Meter (NPM) panel, the same sample that it uses to produce ratings for English-language networks. …

NEW YORK, August 27: Hearst Corporation is making an offer to acquire the public minority stake in the Hearst-Argyle Television stations group that it doesn’t already own for $23.50 per share. The cash offer price represents a premium of approximately …

WEST PALM BEACH, August 27: ION Media Networks has announced a variety of on- and off-air advertising, programming and media initiatives for its digital networks qubo and ION Life that are aimed at reducing the rates of childhood obesity in …

BURBANK, August 27: An extended edition of High School Musical 2, the most watched cable telecast of all time, will be released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray HD on December 11 with behind-the-scenes extras and …

SYDNEY, August 27: ITV3 has picked up the complete catalogue of 19 TV movies and the recently filmed U.S. TV movie of the crime franchise Wire In The Blood from distributor Southern Star International. The acquisition comes on the heels …

MONTREAL, August 27: Cineflix Productions has announced more than 50 new hours of original productions for broadcasters in the U.K., Canada and the U.S. Returning series green-lit for production include a second season of the 10×1-hour docudrama True CSI, for …

STOCKHOLM, August 27: Silverback, formerly Talpa Scandinavia, has received a commission for its new musical talent format West End Star from TV3 in Sweden, which plans to air the series this fall. The format, spanning nine episodes, will be produced …

BURBANK, August 27: Nickelodeon has tapped veteran production and development executive Tracy Katsky as its new senior VP of development and original programming. In this newly created position, Katsky will oversee all of Nickelodeon’s ongoing live-action and animated program development …