Top Stories

TORONTO, February 11: Shaftesbury Films’ live-action kids’ comedy series Life with Derek has been licensed to Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, for chapter novels. The deal was brokered Joy Tashjian Marketing Group (JTMG), and lays …

TORONTO, February 11: Portfolio Entertainment’s clone-themed animated comedy series for tweens, Carl2, has been renewed for an additional season in Belgium and Israel. The renewals come on the heels of six nominations for the series in the Canadian Awards for …

HARRINGTON PARK, February 11: Jack Lemmon: America’s Everyman, the sixth title released from Janson Media’s Hollywood Collection, is now available for all television, home-entertainment and new-media markets worldwide. Narrated on-camera by Jack Lemmon himself, the profile includes interviews with Lemmon’s …

LOS ANGELES, February 11: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) leadership has approved a deal with the Hollywood studios and is asking the organization’s members to vote tomorrow on whether or not to end the strike, pending ratification of the …

LONDON, February 11: Chris Kerwin and Scott Jeffrey have joined Five as part of an expansion of the British terrestrial’s digital media team. Kerwin has been appointed to the newly created role of digital controller, in which he oversees the …

BEVERLY HILLS, February 11: In another blow to supporters of the HD DVD format developed by Toshiba, online movie rental service Netflix announced that it will move toward stocking high-definition DVDs exclusively in Sony’s Blu-ray format. Since the first high-definition …

SEATTLE, February 11: CBS and RealNetworks have teamed up to offer viewers exclusive 24/7 online access to live video feeds inside the Big Brother house for the eighth season of the hit reality series, which is scheduled to premiere tomorrow …

HOLLYWOOD, February 11: Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures has announced the creation of a new business unit, Paramount Mobile Entertainment (PME), which is charged with developing mobile entertainment and alternative distribution models for the studio. The new global unit will operate under …

NEW YORK/BURBANK, February 11: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has joined forces with Starz Media to develop and produce a series of Raggedy Adventures movies, based on the publisher’s Raggedy Ann and Me! books. The company has hired writer Joe …

LONDON/NEW YORK/NÜRNBERG, February 11: Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) and 2K Play have expanded their current handheld and console video-game licensing agreement for the company’s multiple preschool properties in the U.S. to cover 28 additional territories throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, …