Top Stories

TORONTO, April 5: Shareholders of Alliance Atlantis Communications have approved the sale of the company to CanWest Global Communications Corp for C$53 per share. The deal was approved by 99.7 percent of the votes cast by holders of Class A …

MEXICO, April 5: Former Comarex executive Ernesto Ramírez has joined the Mexican TV, video and theatrical distributor Quality Films. Ramírez joins Quality Films as its head of TV and new media, with a view to helping the company build its …

LONDON, April 5: Sir Michael Lyons has been tapped as the chairman of the BBC Trust, the BBC's new governing body, effective May 1, succeeding Michael Grade, who stepped down in November to become the executive chairman of ITV. Lyons …

SILVER SPRING, April 5: Discovery Communications is rebranding its Discovery Home Channel as Discovery PlanetGreen, which will feature content on environmentally conscious lifestyles, and has set aside $50 million to invest in eco-friendly original content for all of its 14 …

BURBANK, April 5: NBC has renewed its acclaimed freshman comedy 30 Rock for the 2007-08 season, despite its season average of a 2.7 rating and 5.8 million viewers. The series will settle into its new time period of 9 p.m. …

NEW YORK/LONDON/AMSTERDAM, April 5: The History Channel is slated to launch in Benelux in the second quarter of this year, following its recent Scandinavian rollout. The History Channel UK, a joint venture of A&E Television Networks (AETN) and BSkyB, has …

LOS ANGELES, April 5: MGM International Television Distribution (MGM TV) has taken on the worldwide rights to two series from MTV in the U.S., Kaya and Living Lahaina, both of which will be available to buyers at MIPTV. Kaya is …

NEW YORK/DHAKA, April 5: Sisimpur, the award-winning Bangladeshi adaptation of Sesame Street, is set to begin production on a third season of 52 half-hour episodes next week. The series, produced by Nayantara Communications, will be filmed at the Film Development …

LONDON, April 5: Distraction has announced that Cosgrove Muerer Productions will develop an American version of Man Maid, a hidden-camera reality format that originated in Italy. The series was originally produced by Polivideo and first aired in Italy on Foxlife …

LONDON, April 5: BBC Worldwide will be at MIPTV this month with an enhanced local production team and a raft of formats, headlined by new offerings like Love Production’s Baby Borrowers alongside established hits such as Dancing with the Stars. …