Top Stories

LONDON, July 30: A new report from ZenithOptimedia predicts that television advertising will stabilize in the U.K. this year and is set to begin growing again in 2008, albeit at a modest 2 percent per year. The latest edition of …

ENGLEWOOD/LONDON, July 30: Liberty Global is considering a bid for British cable platform Virgin Media, according to comments made by the company’s chairman, John Malone, to the Financial Times. Liberty Global is already the leading cable operator in Europe, operating …

SINGAPORE, July 30: A 2006 ruling by the Media Development Authority of Singapore, which stated that exclusive pay-TV carriage deals are not anti-competitive, has been upheld by the island nation’s Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), Lee Boon …

SYDNEY, July 30: According to Australian press reports, Kerry Stokes, the executive chairman of Seven Network, is expected to appeal the broadcaster’s dismissed lawsuit over its defunct pay-TV channel C7, reportedly igniting the ire of shareholders who are already concerned …

TORONTO, July 30: Peace Arch Entertainment Group has completed the acquisition of the Toronto-based production company Dufferin Gate Productions for C$6 million ($5.6 million). Under the terms of the deal, Peace Arch acquires all of the shares of Dufferin Gate …

SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER, July 30: Lionsgate has begun development on a half-hour alternative comedy series based on Letters from a Nut, a trilogy of books which have sold more than a million copies worldwide. The books, first published in 1997, are …

FARO, July 30: Ingmar Bergman, the acclaimed Swedish filmmaker, passed away in his home in Faro, Sweden, today. He was 89. Over the course of his 60-year career, Bergman became one of modern cinema’s icons with releases such as Wild …

LOS GATOS, July 30: The online movie rental service Netflix is working with Showtime Networks on a promotional effort for the new series Californication, with the first episode being offered up on DVD and for online streaming ahead of the …

LONDON, July 30: Channel 4 International has inked deals for the theatrical release of the award-winning documentary In the Shadow of the Moon in the U.K. and Japan. The film will be theatrically released by Vertigo Films in the U.K. …

BELFAST/NEW YORK, July 30: SixteenSouth, part of The Inferno Group, has been selected to produce Northern Ireland’s version of Sesame Street, made in association with Sesame Workshop. The series will be broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland from February and will …