Top Stories

BURBANK, July 26: The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will ban cigarette smoking in all of its branded family-friendly features, and will “discourage” the practice in all other movie titles from the studio, including those from Touchstone and …

LA PLAINE SAINT DENIS, July 26: AB International Distribution has unveiled two highlights for its MIPCOM slate: the 8×52-minute thriller The Avignon Prophecy and the 12×52-minute detective series The Rookies. The Avignon Prophecy will air on France 2 beginning in …

PHILADELPHIA, July 26: Comcast Corporation’s triple-play bundle helped drive its second quarter results, with revenues up 31 percent to $7.7 billion and net profit up 28 percent to $588 million. Comcast Cable’s revenues were up 12 percent to $7.3 billion. …

LONDON, July 26: Anke Stoll has been appointed as the head of acquisitions and co-productions at Portman Film and Television, effective in September. In her new role, Stoll will join Chris Bartlett, Portman’s head of TV sales, and Neil Zeiger, …

LOS ANGELES, July 26: MySpace, the Fox Broadcasting Company and the Producers Guild of America have launched The Storyteller Challenge, inviting aspiring producers to submit short-form pilots for online broadcast in a bid to win a television development deal. Up-and-coming …

DALLAS, July 26: A study from Parks Associates titled Next Generation DVD Players: Will History Repeat? estimates that more than 32 million Blu-ray and HD DVD players (including game consoles) will be sold in the U.S. by 2011, an 85 …

LONDON, July 26: BT has cancelled its spectrum agreement with GCap Media to operate BT Movio, the mobile TV service available in the U.K. on Virgin Mobile, reportedly as a result of slow customer demand. The five-channel service launched on …

SANTA MONICA, July 26: Lionsgate has signed an agreement to acquire a minority ownership stake in the independent theatrical distribution company Roadside Attractions, whose previous releases include Super Size Me and The Road To Guantanamo. Details about the size of …

LONDON, July 26: Target Entertainment has acquired Minotaur International, Virgin Media Television’s (VMtv) distribution arm, for an undisclosed sum, and has inked a long-term strategic partnership with the company. In addition to acquiring Minotaur and its entire catalogue, Target will …

LONDON, July 26: Subscribers to Orange’s upcoming digital TV service in the U.K. will have on-demand access to movies from The Walt Disney Company, via a multiyear deal announced today. Orange’s upcoming launch of digital TV in the U.K. builds …