Top Stories

PHILADELPHIA, April 3: Comcast Corporation is acquiring the cable systems owned and operated by Patriot Media & Communications, serving about 81,000 video subscribers in New Jersey, for $483 million in cash. Comcast is acquiring the privately owned systems from Steven …

LONDON, April 3: ITV’s executive chairman, Michael Grade, will deliver the keynote speech at RightsLab, the conference on cross-platform rights exploitation being held by the British independent producers body Pact on June 14 at the Chancery Court Hotel in London. …

LONDON/TORONTO/BURBANK, April 3: Sparrowhawk Media, DIC Entertainment and Corus Entertainment's Nelvana Enterprises are working together to launch KidsCo, a multiplatform global television channel for children and families. KidsCo begins its global rollout this year using Sparrowhawk's broadcast distribution facility in …

LONDON, April 2: To celebrate the one-year anniversary of its shift from pay-TV platforms to basic packages on Sky and Virgin Media, Disney Channel U.K. has announced a 60-percent increase in its audience share, boosted by the success of live-action …

MADRID, April 2: Elastic Rights has licensed Entertainment Rights’ popular The Basil Brush Show for broadcast in Spain on TVE and Cartoon Network and in Italy on RAI SAT. The sixth season of The Basil Brush Show will soon premiere …

NEW YORK, April 2: 4Kids Entertainment will offer 40 half-hour episodes of its all-new multiplatform animated action series Chaotic to international buyers at MIPTV. The series, which also involves a trading card component and online game play, launched in the …

SANTA BARBARA, April 2: Foothill Entertainment has secured the worldwide distribution rights, excluding Asia and Australasia, to Studio Bizzaro’s live-action puppet series Planet Bizzaro, The World According to Zoomer. Originally conceived as the concept for a series of Public Service …

TORONTO, April 2: Cookie Jar Entertainment has licensed 26 half-hour episodes of its newest animated series, the Busytown Mysteries (Hurray For Huckle!) to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for the Kids’ CBC preschool programming block. The series, which is based …

LONDON, April 2: National Geographic Channel U.K. (NGC U.K.) has re-commissioned the 20×30-minute weekly popular-science series I Didn’t Know That, produced by ALL3MEDIA-owned North One Television, for a second season that will premiere May 3 in the U.K., with further …

LONDON, April 2: BBC Worldwide has appointed Gerry Ritchie as its VP of distribution in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in the newly integrated Global Channels and BBC World sales configuration, effective immediately. Ritchie’s appointment follows the integration …