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AMSTERDAM, February 21: The Dutch movie channel Film1 has acquired the high-paced quiz format Movie Matrix from FCCE for the Benelux territory. Created by the Dutch production outfit New Haven Productions, Movie Matrix is a Hollywood-related quiz show that involves …

NEW YORK/SANTA MONICA, February 21: Genius Products, co-owned by The Weinstein Company, has become the North American home entertainment distributor for Sesame Workshop’s library of more than 100 titles. Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Genius will distribute titles …

LONDON/NEW YORK, February 21: BKN International has tapped Digital Music Group (DMGI) to handle the North American digital rights for its current and upcoming films and series, and has aligned with The Game Factory for a PSP video game based …

CARMEL, February 21: According to a new study by Adams Media Research, consumer spending on movie and TV downloads will hit $4.1 billion by 2011. The report, Video on the Internet: Ad-Supported Streaming and Download-to-Own, also notes that ad spending …

LOS ANGELES, February 21: The new Merv Griffin game show, Let’s Play Crosswords, has been cleared for a fall launch as a syndicated strip by NBC-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas. From Merv Griffin …

PARIS, February 21: Nonce Paolini has been nominated as the new CEO of TF1, with longtime chief Patrick Le Lay relinquishing that function but remaining as chairman of the French broadcaster. The succession, due to be approved at the AGM …

LONDON, February 21: 3DD Group has launched a new digital division, 3DD Digital, in an attempt to ramp up its activities on the development and acquisition of new media rights. The company has also bolstered this move with the appointment …

ENGLEWOOD, February 21: EchoStar Asia Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of EchoStar Communications Corporation, has made a $40 million investment in Korea’s TU Media Corp., which delivers satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (S-DMB) services to more than 1 million subscribers. The investment …

NEW YORK, February 21: Lion Television USA has received an 80-episode order from Discovery Channel for the Cash Cab game show. Hosted by comedian Ben Bailey, each half-hour episode of Cash Cab features unsuspecting commuters who step inside a seemingly …

MADRID, February 21: Italy’s De Agostini, which owns a majority stake in Spain’s Antena 3, is planning a bid for Telefónica’s 75-percent stake in Endemol, according to wire reports. De Agostini now joins a fray that includes fellow Italian group …