Top Stories

DOHA, January 11: Al Jazeera Network has entered into an agreement with Hoist to make its English- and Arabic-language channels available in European hotels. Al Jazeera hopes that Hoist will be a key partner in the network’s initiative toward sustained …

TORONTO, January 10: Breakthrough Entertainment has picked up the worldwide rights to the military-themed The World Without US, and will offer up the feature-length documentary for buyers at NATPE. The 85-minute special questions the reasons, benefits and consequences of U.S. …

TORONTO, January 10: Following a deal with Canadian broadcaster TELETOON for its new stop-motion animated reality series Life’s a Zoo, Cuppa Coffee Studios is now looking to secure a prime-time slot for the show in the U.S. TELETOON has ordered …

NEW YORK, January 10: A strike has been averted at CBS News, with some 500 employees who are members of the Writers Guild of America inking a new contract after working without one since April 2005. In November, CBS newswriters …

HONG KONG, January 10: At this year’s Hong Kong Toy Fair, HIT Entertainment named Funtastic as the Thomas & Friends Trackmaster distribution partner for Australia. Funtastic will oversee the transition from the Thomas & Friends Motor Road and Rail track …

LOS ANGELES, January 10: Warner Bros. has informed about 1,000 TV and film production employees that several layoffs could soon be announced as a result of the Hollywood writers’ strike. A statement from the studio noted: “These WARN notices were …

LONDON, January 10: September Films has been commissioned by Channel 4 to produce the hour-long documentary The Real Elephant Man, based on the work of a Chinese physician named Professor Xu. Professor Xu deals with abnormal tumors that other doctors …

BANGKOK, January 10: Thailand’s leading pay-TV platform, TrueVisions UBC, is set to begin offering personal video recorders (PVRs) to its subscriber base early this year. TrueVisions UBC will be offering standard-definition PVRs by Humax integrated with OpenTV Core2 and OpenTV …

BARCELONA, January 10: Spain’s Imira Entertainment, formerly Icon Animation, has inked several deals for youth programming with Spanish-language channels and home-video distributors in Latin America and the U.S. The kids and family channel Sorpresa! picked up the Spanish-language rights to …

LONDON, January 10: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has inked an agreement to provide a range of current and library movie titles to Belgian telecom operator Belgacom’s on-demand service. Belgacom TV customers will be able to access current and library …