Top Stories

LONDON, July 3: Disney Theatrical Productions—responsible for musicals like The Lion King—will launch a touring stage adaptation of the award-winning Disney Channel original movie High School Musical in the U.K. in January 2008. Produced by Stage Entertainment in cooperation with …

DULLES, July 3: AOL has launched a newly redesigned and enhanced AOL Video portal that includes updated features to make it easier for consumers to find, watch and share more than 20 million videos from across the web. The new …

LOVELAND/HARRINGTON PARK, July 3: Janson Media has reached an exclusive deal to distribute Grizzly Adams Productions’ (GAP) catalogue of family-friendly specials and series to the worldwide television market. The new deal expands upon an existing relationship between the two companies, …

LONDON, July 3: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has appointed Justin Hatfield as the VP of sales for the U.K., Eire, Benelux and Scandinavia. Hatfield will relocate from Madrid to the U.K. to take up his new role. He was previously the …

LONDON, July 3: BBC Worldwide has tapped Gill Pritchard as the director of children’s for its home entertainment business, effective this September. Prior to her appointment, Pritchard served as the business development director in charge of developing and building the …

LONDON/LOS ANGELES, July 3: The British factual and reality producer September Films has tapped Sheldon Lazarus as its new creative director of factual, effective immediately. Lazarus was previously the head of factual for At It Productions. In his new role, …

BRUSSELS, July 3: The European Commission is seeking information from the Hollywood studios as part of an informal probe into whether the two competing high-definition DVD formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD, engaged in anti-competitive behavior, according to wire reports. Sony, …

LONDON, July 3: According to the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2006/2007, 72 percent of audiences said that innovation from the broadcaster was important, but only 51 percent agreed that it is performing well in this area. Launching the …

LONDON, July 3: According to the Guardian, BSkyB is in discussions with Microsoft to make its proposed digital terrestrial television pay-TV service available on PCs. Sky is looking to launch a pay service on Freeview early next year; the proposal …

LONDON, July 3: Speaking at the Royal Television Society, Michael Grade, the executive chairman of ITV, called on broadcasters to remember that maintaining audiences’ trust is key, stating that the call-in scandals that have hit the U.K. reflect a “casual …